Fried Zucchini and the Black Panther Party

I made fried zucchini this weekend and it was delicious.  When I worked at a bank years ago, a coworker brought in these huge zucchinis from her garden.  I asked my other coworker how should I prepare them.  She said to fry them.  So I slice them thin and dip them in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.  I fry them in a little olive oil.  When they're done, I sprinkle them with lots of black pepper and a little garlic salt.  It's so simple and so delicious.

I've been trying to get myself to write, but haven't felt inspired really.  I have this fiction book in my head about these three brothers, one dead, one a complete dirt bag, and one who is a gay but married to a woman.

I watched a Maya Angelou documentary last night to inspire me.  Then I watched one on the Black Panthers, who were misrepresented by the media and who continue, I think, to be misunderstood.  This brought me back to the idea of racism.  Through my own education and growth, I've examined my views on race and how I treat people.  I'm in a good place with that (although kudos to my mother for giving me a great non-racist start in life).

My idea was to interview people in the country and take the temperature of racism.  Racism as how we all see it.  I mean to get a sample of all kinds of people.  I might even do a separate section on the police (which, truth be told, I don't hold in high regard based on personal experience and that, overall, police seem more racist as a group).

The saddest part of watching the Black Panther footage is that years later, now in 2017, police think being black is suspicious.  People existing as they are cultivates probable cause.   

So, I don't know what I can come up with as a white lower-middle class woman, but all I know is that I have black literature and I have their words to guide me, so I'll give it a go.

I had completely forgotten about this poem.  Imagine a president who valued a woman and her words and her mind.  Imagine a president who was overly excited to share geographical roots with an African-American woman.  Imagine a president who was enlightened enough to be inclusive and to find commonalities with a person of a different gender and race.

Hold on to this memory because it's far better than our present reality.