Welcome to the #RRBC ‘Rockin 2020 Away’ Book, Blog & Trailer Block Party! #RWISA @nonniejules

Hi and “WELCOME” to RRBC’s ‘ROCKIN 2020 AWAY’ BOOK, BLOG & TRAILER BLOCK PARTY at Watch Nonnie Write!

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Here’s What I’m Giving Away Today:

(1) e-book copy of “NO PEDIGREE” 

(1) $10 Amazon Gift Card

# of Winners for this stop:  2

Welcome, friends, to day 15 along RRBC’s ROCKIN’ 2020 AWAY Book, Blog & Trailer Block Party!  2020 has been a rough year for ALL of us and what better way to get over it, than to help it right out the door.  (That wasn’t a question, by the way.)

WARNING:  This will not be a cute little blog post.  This will probably be the most difficult post that you’ve read or will read along this tour.  Although this is a party, I came to educate today.  So, welcome to my party with a purpose!

This year we have experienced and witnessed unprecedented and the most unsettling events in our nation’s history.  A pandemic, heightened racial tension, and an election that our very lives depend upon, are all at the top of that list of events.  I personally have never felt so tired and drained in an election year, and after this one is behind me, I hope to not ever feel this way again.

When I decided to pen my short story, “NO PEDIGREE,” I didn’t know that it would have such an impact on readers … or, that it would touch so deeply.  I received an email last week from a 16 year old girl from Anaheim, CA, who said she’d read my book and it gave her the courage to stand up for her friend who had been the recent target of a huge racist bullying campaign at her school.  There aren’t many blacks in her school and her friend was among that extra small class of students.  She said after reading “NO PEDIGREE”, she knew exactly how to deal with the bullies, who at one time, had  also been her friends.  “I am now almost as brave as your Baylee,” is how she ended her email to me.  (Way to go, Taylor!)

Get your copy of  NO PEDIGREE!

Why are children still being made to suffer this way?  Children aren’t born with hate in their hearts – they are taught to hate. So, in 2020, why are we still teaching our children to hate those who are different from them, or who may not look like them?  Why?

It’s so disheartening that today we are still dealing with the same crimes of 1965, and with a body in the White House spewing hatred every time he speaks, this makes it all the more easier for those crimes to be carried out.  How can what you are about to see below when you click the play button, still be happening today – on the streets of the United States of America?

When I began to write this post yesterday, I asked my husband to find the movie above on television so that we could watch it.  He located it, and I stopped writing the post and went up to our media room, for what I thought would be a nice movie night with my husband.  I figured I would return to finish my post this morning.  (It seems one of those two came true – I am back to finish the post.  There was nothing enjoyable about the night).

In the first few minutes of the movie, as we are watching a group of young girls descend the stairs of what appears to be a church, a loud explosion goes off and you see body parts falling through the air in slow motion.  Mouth wide open in shock, the bottle of water in my hand, also as if in slow motion, fell to the ground as I jumped from my seat.  

Shaking from head to toe, I looked over at my husband, needing confirmation of what I was sure we had just witnessed together, and yelled to him, “Please turn that off!  If this is how the movie begins, I know I won’t be able to stomach more of what might happen throughout the rest of it.”  So, he turned it off and we retired to our bed, but I couldn’t turn off my mind.  I’m pretty sure this was the depiction of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama.  Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11), all died that day because of the desire of another racist in power at that time, Alabama Governor, George Wallace, who made preserving racial segregation one of the central goals of his administration.  Also in power during that time, the Ku Klux Klan of Birmingham – one of the most violent and lawless chapters.  (Please read this article and interview I happened upon on George Wallace’s daughter, Peggy Wallace Kennedy.  It’s so interesting.)

The only difference between then and now, is I feel strongly that positive changes are on the way, and many of the wrongs of yesteryear are about to be made right.  Notice I didn’t say “all of the wrongs,” because some of those can’t be undone, but I do believe we are about to see policy changes like never before in a great majority of those areas where minorities have been negatively impacted, simply because of the shade of their skin.

We recently lost a warrior in this battle, Congressman John Lewis, who encouraged us all to get into good trouble.

Some of you might not know what good trouble means and many more of you are wondering why would anyone intentionally get into any kind of trouble?  I did say that I came to educate today, didn’t I, so let’s see if I can describe it adequately – if the shade of my skin is lighter than yours and I see that you are suffering due to the dark shade of your skin, then I’m going to stand in defense of you. That’s good trouble.  Whether I’m using my voice against injustice or I’m marching side by side with you down the streets of Ferguson or down BLACK LIVES MATTER Plaza in downtown Washington, DC, I don’t mind getting into that kind of trouble at all.  Again, that’s good trouble.

Some things have been weighing heavily on my mind and there are a few burning questions I need to ask some of you.  I’m acutely aware that many of you will turn away from these questions, but I’m asking anyway.  Run, if you must. (I already know who will comment on this post and I know who will read it and scurry away.)

What do you call someone who spews racist rhetoric?  A racist, right?

What do you call the people who voted for this racist once, maybe not knowing then that he was a racist, but, now after seeing him turn our country into a laughingstock, and witnessing him divide us, will go out and vote for him again?  I’ll let those of you who will cast those votes answer this one.  But, let me be clear as to how my mind views these behaviors…

-If you live with a child molester and you know that he’s a child molester, then you are OK with that person molesting children;

-If you are friends with a murderer, and you know that he’s a murderer, then you are OK with that person killing;

-If you have a relative who is a rapist and you know that he’s a rapist, then you are OK with that person raping women;

Now, I’m about to get to the meat and potatoes of my assessment…

-If you cast a vote in 2016 for Donald Trump, not knowing that he was the sad, vile, racist that is evident to the entire world right now, and you go out and cast another vote for him in 2020, what does that make you?  What does that say about you?  If nothing else, it clearly says that you are OK with all that he does, all that he says, all that he stands for. You are OK with the way he speaks negatively about women.  Do you have daughters?  A wife?  A mom or sisters?  I am a firm believer in birds of a feather flocking together and make no mistake about it, everything I put in this post, I mean, think and feel from my deepest place.  I stand firmly in the belief that what you are silent about, you condone.  What you don’t stand against, you condone. 

If you can stand by and watch an injustice being done and not speak out against it, and even if you try to justify it, then in my eyes, you are IT.  As I have raised my daughters and constantly remind them of today, you have to become extremely comfortable with making others uncomfortable when it comes to you standing in your truths.  By now, everyone who has ever encountered me should know that I am extremely comfortable making others uncomfortable, especially when the threat of my conscience being compromised is at risk.

I warned you this wasn’t going to be some cute little post and I don’t expect any cute little comments.  When I write, I have something of substance to share.  As with young Taylor from Anaheim above, you don’t have to be a minority to feel the pain of their oppression. I’m a living witness to that fact.

Thank you for joining me on my blog today for my party with a purpose!  VOTE as if your life depends upon it, because like never before, our very lives absolutely depend upon every person exercising their right to have their voices be heard.

NO PEDIGREE Book Trailer

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• Tagged: Alabama, Block Party, No Pedigree, Nonnie Jules, racism, Rave Reviews Book Club, RRBC, RWISA