Dorothy Height-We Thank You for Your Courage, Strength and Love

Dorothy Height, a leading civil rights activist passed away today at 98 years old. Bless her long and productive life and the opportunities she afforded African Americans, and therefore all Americans who seek and support equality and justice.

It is too easy to forget the ones who came before us and paved the way--who fought for us to have the opportunities that we even have the luxury to complain about.

We must recognize this maverick, this woman, this legend, this gift.

Rest in Glorious Peace, Ms. Dorothy Height

With love, Cocoa Popps!

Time for Some Southern Comfort

Say what you will about Tyler Perry and his character Madea, with all of the stereotypical foolishness, but doesn't seeing this caricature of the quintessential strong black female caretaker on some level make you long for a moment in time where you could call on some “Southern Comfort”?

I’m not from the South, but the experience of being cared for and counseled by the female family matriarch who would tell you to “rest your coat and sit a spell” while fixing your plate with chicken, greens and cornbread-just a little something she has warming on the stove- is something most of us can relate to no matter where we’re from. As you poured your soul this loving black woman would assure you that “everything will be just fine, baby”, (or in my case my Aunt Lucy would call me “Sugar-babe”), and maybe quote a Bible verse or two. Then as you took your last bite, you’d be reminded that there’s peach cobbler!

The conversation and combination of delicacies was true soul food. Then possibly you'd move to the sun porch and let the summer breeze waft across your face as the crickets chirped in unison, providing a natural musical backdrop as your spirits are lifted and shoulders lowered. This is an experience I miss. Fortunately I have girlfriends who will take me out and fill me to the brim with mojitos when my heart is heavy, but the limitless love of an old fashioned elder is something that is comparable to nothing.

I assume these archetypal black experiences are still happening, but will they continue? The black community in general has evolved in a way that appears to have left us more disconnected than ever-disconnected to each other and disconnected to the roots of ourselves. So as we become the new generation of seniors, will we know or remember how to give that down home love the way our elders did it?

Change and evolution is good, but some things, like down home love, should remain as they are. When was the last time you had some “Southern Comfort”?