Facing America

LIFE GROWING UP IN THE SOUTH AISHA GUILES, AUTHOR

Aisha, an Afrocentric and Arabic name derived from the Swahili language of an African tribe meaning life, to live, alive. Aisha's story is not only a story of happiness and of pure joy but nostalgically has been a driving force of spiritual knowledge along with worldly hurt, shame, mixed with unashamed and unapologetic discovery of her culture's stigmatized Afrocentric cultures and

trauma coming from the distant shores of Africa still today resurfacing due to the unerased pain of hatred and bigotry reformed in Ameri-

ca. America prides itself with the reformation of keeping old traditional historical suppression of deformation and demoralization based upon not fully grasping the full gospel of Jesus Christ who invokes the power of love throughout His entire walk both in heaven and in the earth. His commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself, to love Him unconditionally and to love your fellow brothers without hesitation, without judgment on the basis of

skin color, origin, heritage, decent, content, or intellectual or socio-

economic status. Love is pure, love is kind, and love

sees no wrongdoing that is unworthy of finding the grace of God for his own clarification of learning the truth of the power of redemption through salvation. Aisha discovers this philosophical wisdom nugget through her lifetime and by her walk with God. What is love or what does love have to with this; has been expounded upon through a series of sermons and questions asked while facing harsh criticism and rhetorically disdain from those who chose to

misuse their own authority not knowing that the implications of abusing the terminology of love without recompense causes a vio-

lent disruption in the heavenlies.

This means that when innocent blood is shed at the hands of which we consider evil, God sees this as injustice and he reacts. There are several ways to have the genuine Mercy of God come to your rescue which does not always means death but persecution of those he considers his beloved children who were wronged unmercifully facing racism or brutality in any shape or form. The church especially should also preach against and strongly oppose with open rebuke those who feel that this type of behavior is justified. While standing with those prophetically declaring that the Word of God stands against the predators, preying upon the innocent and we will force our judicial system to follow the necessary systematic ways to seek justice so this clearly understood. Of course, when the world's ways do not work, we will learn God’s will as we stand in unity, in prayer and call upon the loving grace of God to fight this battle believing the victory is won. Amen! How long will this cycle of disdain go on? This question I personally failed to ask myself, not understanding my own generation would the next target. Many who can not see how cyclic this is and want to break the cords of this strenuous demonic pull to rob you of your destiny, steal the peace and joy out of your soul, and murder your innocence before true life begins.

This battle has been ongoing as Americans learned that we can have a presi-

dent of the United States named Barack Obama and a mayor in Atlanta named Keisha plus numerous accolades that go unpublished, unnamed, and undocu-

mented. So to justify that we all can celebrate that God can and will bring the mockers and scorners to public shame. All mockers and revilers who are under the negative influences will be reduced to public shame, and scrutiny. And at the end, God's hand is in this from heaven. We stand on the word of God and we constantly reflect on his wisdom to continue forward connecting with those of like faith and crossing over to others who face similar mockeries throughout all regions of the earth. We as devout Christians will cover their tough issues of life of demoralization through fervent prayer and fire protests of justice. Can you imagine the great feats we can accomplish with using some of our ancestor's ways of screaming "let justice ring forevermore no matter where I derived from or have a heritage from or my origin or decent? I cry out for mercy to have the right to live in peace, love, and unity in my neighborhood, community, workplace, and church without continuous harassment from hatred derived from demon-

ic influences, and from anyone who has no love for his fellow brother at all. The

Cain spirit in a biblical sense will die."

Aisha, a representation of heritage as to where Atlanta decided to branch away from using basic generic names into

Islamic, Arabic, and African names to combat racism as stated above. I too decided to carry on the legacy of my parents whose simple names derived

from slave masters. I named my own kids Afrocentric, Arabic names not knowing that all of us would face racial persecution early on. My father chose

his own battle of being racially targeted and persecuted in a predominantly African American metropolitan bustling freeloading city with too many options for a country guy raised on a farm lineage. He was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and followed the path of his own ancestors who were apostles, called "church planters & workers", moving on to lead

civil rights activism in South Carolina and in Washington DC.

that the next generation can walk in the their own journey to safety following same path blindly having the strong sense of reckoning from life's circumstances. I'm a Christian and believe in the totality of the Word of God fully, plore what stigma Africans Americans endured living in the south as a target from white supremacy and the fight to push forward. Like my father who was tough battle with no real end in sight, other than hearing the words, "40 is your pivotal year of tragedy to target your family again." Prayer works!! Spiritually speaking and hiding from a pragmatic stigma of a shameful childsocial racial jeering, my walk with God turned into enlightenment forcing the necessity to follow after the AME tradition or Christianity from many denominations. Like freed slaves of the past try mimicked leaders in order to escape Sojourner Truth's methodology of "Set yourself free because help is on the other shore." "How distant is this shore?", I asked myself. I followed after God after seeing the others would turn me down for assistance again including the NAACP who stated that "this so iron clad that your only bet is to run and ignore." Because your family neglected you again and refused to see the truth, the real truth of hatred and bigotry falsified through every attack, I'm in a new category of activism. After meeting with a pioneer of the greatest movement of two civil cluding my kids that they were impressed with my ways of capturing his ways to fight. My words exactly rallying for innocent kids being targeted in a massacre.” Aisha, Atlanta born as a Grady baby, prominent for Fulton County, African American pride, is now a new target. I have flashbacks of my childhood memory sitting mosques watching leaders pray on mats on their knees humbly in a way that started my own prayer life early. I found out that I can go to God myself in prayer speaking in tongues and can shift heaven in my behalf in a way to destroy false ideas. My response "Trust and Obey." She exclaimed to to anyone who worships another religion should reflect Elisha in the Bible as to when God heard that others decided

to call on their false gods to send fire down from heaven and The Almighty

but self-discovery allowed me to ex-

murdered at 28, I too have been in this

hood ranging from domestic violence to rights leadership, both soothed me in-

Father tested their own false sense of security.

If you think that God only supernaturally answers prayers in biblical times, my book titled "Heavenly Father, Will You Teach Me How to Pray?" It answers some of these questions. Flashback, My grandmother quickly redirected my faith into learning the "Our Father's Prayer" easily and without hesitation after I embarrassed her with reciting the Nation of Islam prayer during worship service innocently. I struggled with prayer then and I'm struggling now after my attack, so I recite the Our Father's Prayer outside out loud asking

for mercy now during my daily walk with God. Iwanted to keep up the Ishymnals such as "Where He leads me I but God had another idea. My grandwill Follow or Precious Lord, Take My mother knew that I was struggling with Hand" which set the foundation that grief after enduring the pain of losing guided me into strengthening my walk my father from white supremacy and with the Lord God Almighty. My grand- listening to taunting over and over that mother's teachings were monumental. he deserved his mistreatment, she quiHer impartation into my life was passed etly slid me a hymn book and a bible. on to my children. My family maternally My sisters grieved inside in their own was the exact same as "apostles and way not knowing what to do next so we church planters" whose faith was so ignored the pain and took on church strong until it guided them to intently full force following the leadership of lamic tradition in my father's behalf, listen to the voice of God. Their ances- while worshipping in SC.

our grandmother and aunts while still watching hatred & bigotry flourish I came back to the metro of Atlanta after 20+ plus years after making a vow never to return from a broken and damaged

childhood. I lost my father here and now I have to help others pull through their own methodologies of being harassed in some form or fashion come

from hatred. The devil will not win here in the state of Georgia, I decree and declare!! God always has a different plan and a different mindset. Aisha, the

African American female in whose own father was brutally murdered while still employed by the United Postal Service in Georgia, without hesitation stepped

to assist many wholeheartedly knowing the feeling of hatred and housing her own detrimental downfall of grief battled this God-given assignment. Job lost his wealth, family, friends, health, fortune, and rational ways of thinking. So did I after having a stroke a TIA and having to learn how to walk perfectly again, permanently disabled now. "Where are you, Lord?"

My family ignored my limp and my continuous trips to the hospital and near

death experiences for an entire year in 2016. I heard God beckon for me to come on home on the day that a relative passed away and I begged to stay here with my kids. I went and out the realms of heaven enjoying heavenly visitations and the feeling the power of his supernatural healing. Aisha, screamed inside, "you will hear this voice" her own ways to law enforcement after being heinously taken down after connecting to a target against white supremacy, a truly random "prominently persecuted" who rationalizes evil is the true way to survive. I'm mad at God was both stances. Coverups, schemes, plots, cons, decoys, unfavorable, true to stigmatism. Hear My voice and hear me clearly, You will not win this battle!!! Good always overcomes evil!! My great uncle fought and founded the NAACP in Florence, SC in the early 1900s while fighting in the court system to integrate the Florence, SC school system from segregation. I found out that my aunt was assistant to several mayors including the mayor Andrew Young and infamous Maynard Jackson who pushed through the civil rights movement after Dr. Martin Luther King assassination. Being true to Christianity, hatred & bigotry does not rule my own heart, no! Only peace, love, & unity rules my heart after forgiving the murderers from law enforcement who stole my own father's life in which my grandfather never recovered from. I learned from the civil rights movements even in the marketplace having the right to vote. I'm an ordained unlicensed elder of the church unscrupulously and unrelenting in making my point clear. Of the love of Jesus Christ. You, Satan, stole my childhood

but you will not steal my children's

childhood like mine. I will not give up nor give in. I will let everyone know that you have rights as African Americans, a human embracing the totality of Christi-

anity. Listen, fighting against white supremacy to get a Georgia ID was worst than living temporarily in a purgatory named facility. My heart goes out to the mistreated misogynous hurt of not being deemed a human being and demoralized severely such as the immigrants in Texas. The church world has shaped my world, "Precious Lord take my hand, lead me on and let me stand. I'm am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the night. Precious Lord, lead me on." But then I will flip to and scream inwardly "stand on what, hatred & bigotry against Caucasians and my own

relatives, No!!." I love so many individuals regardless of background is the stance that claims indefinitely wanting to see King Jesus's face at the end of

life.

God soothes my doubts and calms my fears continuously by providing a plethora of opportunities to minister to the whisperers who

charged to the arenas in disbeprayed with us over and over for God for strength. You will be believers that the true lights and vessels that God assigned to use to

rescue you from devastation are

lief. Places such as Wal-Mart and sometimes unrecognizable. Many

all of my extracurricular jobs, I was came to rally from near and far

greeted by other influential

wealthy individuals who rallied and since the media hid this while we

got together and prayed in unity

silently repeated, "I'm sorry, your friend told me about your mishap and your other friends(the church)

not focusing on who's better but who has voiced that should not be "prominently persecuted." Good

is still jeering." I checked as I always do, "not everyone hates us Aaliyah, Malik, and Makaela, nieces, and nephews." I and my kids met with so many prominent ones along this civil rights path and Samaritans do not always look like you especially in the church scene one more time. Do you remember the Levite passed by but God will use the least likely who took the man to the hotel and paid for his stay and offered to anoint with oil for healing? You who are right in your darkest places should focus on paying it forward instead of pro-

phetically defaming your life through words that manifest such as "mission impossible" to with God "all things are possible". I

messed this up fumbling and falling listening to " I need you, Oh I need you every hour I need you." What Christianity is infamous for is that

your situation is just not for you but for someone else.......May his peace be with you until we meet again. A letter to God from Aisha. Selah!!