Ode to Shirley Chisholm: Icon # 3

"The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It's a girl"
Shirley Chisholm

"There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price"
Shirley Chisholm

What a simply phenomenal woman. January 1st of this year, the incredible Shirley Chisholm passed away. Each week, until the end of the year, I have decided to focus one of my blogs on a luminary, an icon wwhose presence has meant so much to America, that has passed. The incredible Shirley Chisholm is my pick for this week.

In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to Congress andin 1972 she became the first African-American and the first woman to make a serious bid to be President of the United States. Shiley was a woman who was fearless, shameless, and courageous. She believed in being a champion for those who could not or would not be a champion for themselves. For each "icon blog", I bring up the same theme --- who will be the champion after these luminaries pass --- what will our Black leadership and iconography look like after the passing of these icons.



My mother and paternal grandmother both have birthdays on Friday ---my grandmother will be 90 years old. The generation of the 40s, 50s, & 60s is steadily getting older and my generation (an 80s baby) is steadily becoming more complacent withjout a thought to a past that in reality is not was not too long ago. Again, what will our black iconography look like at the passing of all these greats? Can we afford to count on Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, or Julian Bond?

As a special tribute to Shirley, I have picked a poem entitled " i am not done yet" by Lucille Clifton from her book Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980:

as possible as yeast
as imminent as bread
a collection of safe habits
a collection of cares
less certain than i seem
more certain than i was
a changed changer
i continue to continue
where i have been
most of my lives is
where i'm going

"The liberals in the House strongly resemble liberals I have known through the last two decades in the civil rights conflict. When it comes time to show on which side they will be counted, they excuse themselves"
Shirley Chisholm



matutinal -- adj. :Relating to or occurring in the morning; early

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera