BIO
EMPOWERING OURSELVES FROM BROKENNESS TO WHOLENESS!
“Spoken Words are either distracting and toxic, or empowering and healing....let's heal the world by starting with ourselves”
– Abiola Valentine
Abiola Valentine is a poet/spoken word artist who uses writing as a means of expressing the realm of human emotions such as love, joy, pain, fear, anger, rejection, and abandonment, in order to foster individual healing and world unity. Abiola believes that change must start in the homes and schools of our children before their minds are clouded by the negativity of outside forces. As a poet she teaches, empowers, promotes self-esteem, self-respect, self-discipline and love for the oneness of humanity. She relates to social issues including teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, absentee parents, abuse, abandonment and violence.
Abiola’s poem, Calling All Fathers shares the challenges we all know so well about the pain our youth and many adults face without fathers; it is a gentle plea for fathers to come back to their children, even if the relationship is strained with the mother. Mama Africa Weeps For You My Son, has moved the hearts of thousands of men toward understanding the cry of our sons. And, We’ve Got The Power, has educated and empowered people of all races, sexes, and religions towards becoming who they were created to be. She brings hope and purpose to all communities in the current troubled social climate. Abiola is a consistent voice for positive change. She inspires love for our Creator, for self, and for others. Abiola’s inspiration pulls from our history, our present, and hope for the future in a way that is comfortable for ethnically diverse audiences. All ages will find something to enjoy in her poetry.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
“Overcoming Fears by Honoring Your Inner Truth” -
A youth poetry workshop used as a vehicle of dealing with various emotions and
personal baggage that often prevents development of the higher self. Originally
conducted at the Baltimore Book Festival, sponsored by the Baltimore Office
of Promotion.
“Experience Diversity and Oneness Through Poetry” –
Learn to love ourselves individually despite our differences. Recognize our
common humanness. Recently conducted at Johns Hopkins University.
Workshop attendees will be surprised by what they will be able to create and release.
AUTHOR
Abiola published a book of poetry entitled, Calling All Fathers (July 2010); she’s currently working on her autobiography and children picture books.
RECORDINGS
Abiola Valentine released a CD as a tribute to Tupac Shakur with original spoken word and rap to music entitled, Remembered (September 2016). To accompany her book she released a CD, reading her original work entitled, Calling All Fathers (July 2010). Abiola also released a powerful CD, reading scriptures to original music entitled, The Lord Is My Shepherd (September 2008).
PUBLICATIONS
Abiola Valentine’s work has been published in Class Magazine; Voices Magazine; Jambalaya Magazine (all no longer in publication; will submit copy upon request); and many local publications.
TELEVISION/RADIO/ONLINE
WBAL-TV News; PBS Channel WHMM; Howard University Television (WHUT); and WJZ Channel 13; WOLB, WEAA and WTMD Radio; and Def Poetry Jam online for February, 2005.
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY/CONFERENCE/FESTIVAL, ETC. APPEARANCES
Borders Bookstore (guest artist); Empowering Our Community Conference at Johns Hopkins University; Juneteenth Celebration at Johns Hopkins University; Juneteenth Festival at the George Ranch Historical Park; The African Street Festival; The International African Arts Festival; Eubie Blake Cultural Arts Center; The Baltimore Museum of Art; Black History Month, Baltimore’s Top of the World Trade Center; Designer “Expo” Family Day, Baltimore Convention Center; The Heritage Theater; The Arena Playhouse; ArtScape; Urban Leadership Institute’s Youth Explosion Conference Kick-Off at Towson State University; African American Male Leadership Institute’s Summit, Morgan State University; Maryland Fatherhood Initiative Regional Conference “Focusing on Fatherhood,” Prince George’s Community College; 500 Years of Resistance Conference, Howard University; “We Are Our Brothers Keeper…Especially When He Has AIDS,” St. Joseph Church, York, PA; African Centered Energy in Motion: Unity of Purpose Conference, Atlanta, GA; Black Solidarity Day, Medgar Evers College, NY; National Association of African American Studies Conference, Adams Mark Hotel, Houston, TX.; International Day of the African Child, Mt. Zion AME Church, New Brunswick, NJ; 1st Annual African Festival, Harrisburg, PA; Black History Month, Mt. Zion AME Church, New Brunswick, NJ; Set The Captives Free Outreach Center, and many more.
KWANZAA CELEBRATIONS
Shape Community Center, Shrine of the Black Madonna Church, Southwestern Bell Co., University of Houston-Downtown, and Windsor Village United Methodist Church’s Power Center in Houston, Texas; The Baltimore City Hall, Woodbourne Center, The Palladium, Liberty Medical Center, The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Enoch Pratt Free Library and many more.
APPEARED ON PROGRAMS WITH
Amiri Baraka; Sonia Sanchez; Haki Madhubuti; Ras Baraka; Traci Morris; Asha Bandele; Jessica Care Moore; Askia M. Toure; Kenneth Zakee; Kupenda Auset; Anthony Parnell; Laini Mataka; The Last Poets; His Excellency Ebrahim Rasool, Republic of South Africa Ambassador to the United Stated of America; Honorable Patricia Coates Jessamy; Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo; Rev. Dr. Ann F. Lightner-Fuller; Dr. Na’im Akbar; Dr. Molefi K. Asante; Dr. Leonard Jeffries;Bishop BarbaraHarris; William Alexander Haley (son of the late author Alex Haley); Jean Carne; Hugh Masekela; Afeni Shakur (mother of Tupac Shakur); Gary Bartz; the late Mary Carter Smith and Ruby Glover, and many others.
MISSION
Create an awareness of self, community, and the world relative to the issues that create divisiveness, while raising the self esteem of African people throughout the Diaspora.
GOALS
POETRY EXCERPTS
Calling All Fathers
(Excerpt)
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
your sons are dying
they are in pain
they are killing themselves and each other.
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
mothers can’t make men out of our sons
we are women
we are mothers
we love and nurture
we teach and develop our children’s minds, bodies and souls
but, we are
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
we do not have the ingredients needed to make men out of our sons
our sons are dying, they are in pain
they are killing themselves and each other
FATHERS, CAN YOU HEAR US?
PLEASE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING
our future is at stake
our villages are falling apart
stop your selfishness
stop your laziness
stop your “too busy” with your job, your ‘new’ family
your community and your friends - attitude
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
your sons are in pain
they are joining gangs in order to belong to a family
they are joining gangs for someone to look up to
they are joining gangs for what they think is power.
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
©Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, April 25, 1997
Dying Young
(Excerpt)
Vietnam he compared to his everyday struggle,
Life pursuit of happiness he tried to juggle.
Vietnam he compared to his everyday struggle,
Life pursuit of happiness he tried to juggle.
So you ask why I weep for Tupac Shukur.
Thug life is what he claimed,
Though his heart stayed pure.
Now who are you and I to judge,
His struggle we didn’t endure.
Women, stacks of loot, and big cars became his lure,
Leave it all up to God let him settle the score.
Yea, he had his own mind,
The business he didn’t design.
This kid was led astray hollowing,
“May Day, May Day.”
Playing roles in the movies ---
Bishop and Birdie wasn’t him.
But to be himself and survive he knew was slim.
As he cruised this cruel world all faith he lost.
Tried to drink away the pain,
Yo Pac stayed sauced.
Author: Reno Valentine
©December 1996
©Spectrums of Life, 2007 – Copyright Claimant and
Authorized Agent: Abiola Valentine (mother)
I Too, Am African!
(Excerpt)
My skin is as almond as Haile Selasie of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
And my hair is as kinky as Makeda - The Queen of Sheba.
I Too, Am African!
My eyes are as soft as the sunset on Mount Kilimanjaro;
And my lips are as full as a midnight moon on the River Nile.
I Too, Am African!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
It’s Time For Us To Come Together
And Stop Fighting Each Other!!
(Excerpt)
As Our oppressors work day and night on how to keep us in bondage
We argue and kill each other over things that don’t really matter.
We get angry over whether we are black, Afrikan-American, or Afrikan
Whereas if we think and study we’d understand the difference.
We laugh and tease cause we think one is too dark
And we believe the other is light and more beautiful.
Cause we are confused and hate ourselves
Just as much as or more than our oppressors.
It’s Time For Us To Come Together and Stop Fighting Each Other!
We pull some of us down and lift others up
Because of the texture and length of our hair.
Not understanding that it’s all beautiful
Whether it be straight, wavy, or kinky.
We define ourselves by the label on our clothes and cars
Because deep down within we don’t know who we really are.
We think that other races of people are smarter than we
Simply because we don’t know and understand our history.
It’s Time For Us To Come Together and Stop Fighting Each Other!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1991
Kizzy
(Excerpt)
I can still hear your screams
When they took your child away
And sold it to another plantation.
I can still see your tears
When they beat your father, Kunta Kinte
Cause he refused to use the name Toby.
I hear your screams today in my friend
She has five children by different men
And they’ve been taken away to the jails for drugs or murder
Or just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990 Spectrums of Life
Mama Africa Weeps For You My Son
(Excerpt)
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the first born of the universe
to come back home
to come back home
and rebuild the land of our forefathers.
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the creator of science, math, medicine, and dentistry,
the builder of the sphinx and pyramids
to come back home
to come back home
and teach and heal the wounded children of our mothers.
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the artists, the drummer, the dancer,
the sculptor, the painter, the poet
to come back home
to come back home
to lift up your hands, your feet and your voice
and bring our people to a new horizon of freedom.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
Remembered
(Excerpt)
I want Tupac to be remembered in history
Cause he was no different from you and me.
He struggled to do what he thought was right
But all he got was confusion and strife.
This was a young man who worked real hard
But folks always had him pinned against a wall.
He loved and gave of himself unselfishly
As he was accused of being a gangster.
A thug he was not but a warrior he was
Telling the truth, and taking care of children for the cause.
Sure he was angry, wouldn’t you be
With no father, uncle or brother that would teach.
A self made man with no role model
Struggling to find out what life was about.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
Self Discipline Is What We Need
(Excerpt)
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say
Cause I’m about spreading love instead of hate.
Can’t help but be concerned as I watch some of my people
Walking around with their heads down instead of up like a steeple.
Tired of the same old stories
How long will it take us to get it together?
While others watch us act like fools
Saying we don’t deserve any better?
Self-inflicted diseases are wiping us out
While white supremacists use our acts to justify their doubts.
© Abiola Valentine
December 1989
The African Man!
(Excerpt)
Your skin ranges from cool melon to deep cocoa,
And your hair is as wooly as a lamb.
Your eyes are as tender as an African violet,
Or as fierce as the Sahara desert in the heat of the day.
The African Man!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990
They All Give Praises to God!
(Excerpt)
Smell the clean air, the trees, and the dirt from the soil;
Listen to the birds sing songs of praise
And watch the butterflies as they light on a leaf
In the brightness of the noon-day sun.
They All Give Praises to God!
Watch the sunset preparing for rest
And the stars that give us light in the night;
Listen and watch the frogs croak
And leap for joy as they praise him,
For he made them too.
They All Give Praises to God!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
Triple Queen
(Excerpt)
I have been crowned a Triple Queen
one that comes from royal ancestors
from the motherland of all of civilization
Alkebulan, which was renamed Africa by colonialist.
I have been crowned a Triple Queen
one that has endured and survived many atrocities
that sent many others to alcohol, drugs
and spread their legs open to many men.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1999
We Different But Equal
Created by God, That Loves Us Too!
(Excerpt)
Some of us be African, wit kinky hair,
broad nose and full lips.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, and speak different from you..
We different but equal, created by God that loves us too!
Some of us be Native American, wit cold black straight hair,
thin pointed nose and small lips.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, and speak different from you..
We different but equal, created by God that loves us too!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
Revised 2001
We’re Moving Forward in Unity!!!
(Excerpt)
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
As Americans, we are many colors, religions, classes,
ages, body and mental types, and sexual orientations.
We have seen the atrocities of injustice in our land,
but we work to heal man’s inhumanity to man.
We are the red, black, brown, yellow, and white…
from all over the world.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, dress, and eat
different from you.
We are different but equal created by God…
that loves us too!
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
We are Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish,
Kemetic, Mormon, Muslim, Sikh, Washani, Yoruba,
and many other beliefs,
enjoying the freedom that America was founded upon,
believing that God is love.
We are the rich, the middle class, the poor,
and the homeless…
all desiring a life of not material wealth,
but a need for housing, food, clothing, education,
employment, and healthcare for all.
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
We are physically, mentally, emotionally, and
spiritually healthy and broken,
wanting wholeness, a touch, acceptance,
validation, love and hope for our future.
We are the old, the young, and the babies…
sometimes full of laughter and often times
full of pain and tears from too many
heartaches and uncertainties.
We are straight, gay, bi, transgender,
accepted by all as God’s children
not here to be judged by others,
but to grow and find inner peace.
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, Nov. 15, 2012
We’re Passing a Baton From Generation to Generation
Of Love, Hope, Faith, Dignity, and Hard Work!!!
(Excerpt)
Sometimes I know you get awfully tired
But hold your head up and keep on going
We’re passing a baton from generation to generation
Of love, hope, faith, dignity, and hard work.
Remember Kunta Kinte and the struggles of his family
We all came from a similar past that helped build America.
Bond your babies at your breast with the love of Kizzy
We’re building future generations of strong men and women.
Fight the rebellion as Nat Turner
For life of death.
Speak with the determination of Frederick Douglass
Refuse to be a slave physically or mentally.
Work for your desire for freedom as Harriet Tubman
Remember that you are not totally free until we are all free.
Walk with the pride of Marcus Garvey
Look back to our rich ancient African past.
Be stubborn like Rosa Parks
Refuse to let another man take what=s rightfully yours.
Move with the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Believe that we will be free one day soon.
Sometimes I know you get awfully tired
But hold your head up and keep on going
We’re passing a baton from generation to generation
Of love, hope, faith, dignity, and hard work.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990
We’ve Got The Power!!!
(Excerpt)
Dedicated To: President Barack Obama and The Wind of Change
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves, our family,
our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power to change
the world by the power of God!!! That power that surges down from above
as if through an invisible extension cord to each and every living being,
spreading light one to another and passed on from generation to generation
to bring us back onto the path of peace, joy, love, harmony and
unity with all people, for we are all one!!!
TO: President Barack Hussein Obama: We heard your call when you said,
“our time has come, our movement is real, and change is coming to America.”
TO: First Lady Michelle Obama: We heard your plea when you said,
“We have this window of opportunity. This chance won’t come around again.”
TO: Sam Cooke: We can still hear your voice singing,
“A Change Is Gonna Come.”
TO: All of America: We heard one another’s voices shouting, “Yes We Can.”
And, for the first time, I too wave the red, white, and blue flag with pride
of the growth of our nation.
TO: All of Humanity: I heard a voice saying, “For you shall receive power,
after the Spirit of God comes upon you.”
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves, our family,
our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power to change the
world by the power of God!!!
TO: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: we fought for your dream that we
will not be judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.
We happily present to you our new President Barack Obama
who picked up the baton of our ancestors to continue the struggle.
TO: Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Frederick Douglass,
you taught us dignity and self-respect, and to stand up and fight
to win equality for all.
TO: Dr. Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hammer,
Coretta Scott King, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Harriet Tubman, and
Sojourner Truth for teaching us how to be strong amidst bigotry
and hatred. “America is changing”
TO: The men, women and children beaten with clubs,
attacked by police dogs, and sprayed with fire hoses or tear gas by
the Birmingham police, for marching and for non-violent demonstrations;
to the college students who organized sit-ins at lunch counters for hours,
so that we can now eat in public places; to our men who fought
in wars for America, only to return and be considered as 3/5th of a man
with no equal opportunities for education, employment, and housing.
TO: The four little girls who were killed in the church bombing
in Birmingham and were called “niggers” by ignorant Klansman,
we are sorry.
TO: You young people today, calling each other “niggas”
as a symbol of love, with no understanding of the hatred of its history,
we say shame on you……stop it, stop it, stop it!!!
“Nigger” don’t mean brother no more than bitters mean honey.
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves,
our family, our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power
to change the world by the power of God!!!
TO: Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney, both white and black
civil rights activist, who were shot, and their bodies
bulldozed into an earthen dam.
TO: Rev. James Reeb, the white Boston minister, and Viola Liuzzo,
the white mother of five and NAACP member from Michigan,
killed by angry whites while demonstrating for voting rights and
transporting marchers in Alabama. “America is changing”
TO: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Dubois, Adam Clayton Powell,
and Thurgood Marshall.
TO: All ministers, educators, activists and revolutionary artists,
we know your work, and we know your names, thank you
for taking us to another level.
TO: The lawyer, Nelson Mandela, for spending 27 years in jail
for fighting against apartheid, and then becoming the President
of South Africa who said, “For to be free is not merely to
cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and
enhances the freedom of others.”
TO: Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Mbogeni Ngema
for your songs of freedom, educating the world about the
injustices of apartheid.
TO: Steven Biko, Dr. Julius Nyerere, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, and Patrice Lumumba, a change is coming.
TO: Haile Selassie: who believed “that as long as there’s
a philosophy which believes one race is superior and another is inferior,
which maintains first and second class citizens and the color
of a man’s skin is more significant than the color of his eyes
that the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship will
never be attained,” a change is coming.
TO: Joan of Arc: who heeded to spiritual visions and the power of God.
TO: Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel who said,
“A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into
battle is not fit to be a leader.”
TO: Martin Luther, the German theologian who insisted that a man is
justified by faith and not from works.
TO: Ma-hat-ma Gandhi, who said, “You must be the change you want
to see in the world.”
TO: Abraham Lincoln: we believe your words, “The probability that
we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support
of a cause we believe to be just.”
TO: John Kennedy: we too believe that “Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
TO: Ta-tan-ka Yo-tan-ka, also known as Sitting Bull,
a courageous spiritual warrior, you offered to sacrifice
your own blood for a vision that would guide The People.
“America is changing.”
“We’ve Got The Power” to take back our children, to reclaim
our sense of family and community, to stop the cycle
of sending more of our men to jail than to college,
stop the cycle of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse,
stop the cycle of substance abuse, stop the cycle
of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves,
our family, our community, and our country, but
we’ve got the power to change the world by the power of God!!!
(The full piece is published in my book and CD,
Calling All Fathers, July 2010)
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
February 21, 2009
When I Weep For Tupac
(Excerpt)
Many would ask why I would weep for Tupac
They called, “a nuisance, menace to society,” that led others to destruction;
They called, “a thug, to be thrown away, like a piece of rotten meat
Or buried as a problem now resolved, never to return.
When I weep for Tupac
I weep for a child gone astray and the pain of the grieving mother;
A creation of God never given its due amount of water
To become the beautiful flower he was made to be -- you know what I mean?
I weep for the waste of a human life, misguided burst of energy
That could have been used for the building and uplifting of mankind
To save our dying planet -- he had the power!
When I weep for Tupac
I weep for a manchild caught up in the crossfire of confusion
Between the thug life and doing the right thing;
A young man at the crossroads of self-destruction and fighter for his people.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, September 17, 1996
Who Am I?
(Excerpt)
I am a queen, a king that comes from royalty
Straight from the line of Makeda - the Queen of Sheba,
King Solomon, Queen Nzingha, and Shaka - King of the Zulus!
I am original, an heir to the throne of David, Adam & Eve.
My mind and body built great empires
Long before the new world.
Who Am I?
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, November 27, 1991
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
(Excerpt)
I am so lost and confused that I don’t know what to do
Seem like I can’t never do nothing right so I am so blue.
My teacher yells at me all the time
And the kids tease me and wanna pick a fight.
I don’t know which is worst, my headache or the growling
In my stomach cause I ain’t ate since last night.
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
How can I study and concentrate with so much on my mind
And everywhere I go, somebody wants to touch my behind.
My uncles, cousins, and my mama’s boyfriends
All wanted me in a cruel way.
It hurts so bad when I think of what they did.
They kissed me, touched me in all the wrong places
Said they would kill me if I ever tell.
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
I love and hate my mama at the same time
Cause all she seem to care about is how she looks to a man.
She never hugs me or tell me she loves me
But she got no problem beating me with extension cords,
And telling me I ain't go never be nothing.
Maybe it’s because her mama was never there for her
So she don’t know how to give what she never got.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, July 22, 2013
EMPOWERING OURSELVES FROM BROKENNESS TO WHOLENESS!
“Spoken Words are either distracting and toxic, or empowering and healing....let's heal the world by starting with ourselves”
– Abiola Valentine
Abiola Valentine is a poet/spoken word artist who uses writing as a means of expressing the realm of human emotions such as love, joy, pain, fear, anger, rejection, and abandonment, in order to foster individual healing and world unity. Abiola believes that change must start in the homes and schools of our children before their minds are clouded by the negativity of outside forces. As a poet she teaches, empowers, promotes self-esteem, self-respect, self-discipline and love for the oneness of humanity. She relates to social issues including teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, absentee parents, abuse, abandonment and violence.
Abiola’s poem, Calling All Fathers shares the challenges we all know so well about the pain our youth and many adults face without fathers; it is a gentle plea for fathers to come back to their children, even if the relationship is strained with the mother. Mama Africa Weeps For You My Son, has moved the hearts of thousands of men toward understanding the cry of our sons. And, We’ve Got The Power, has educated and empowered people of all races, sexes, and religions towards becoming who they were created to be. She brings hope and purpose to all communities in the current troubled social climate. Abiola is a consistent voice for positive change. She inspires love for our Creator, for self, and for others. Abiola’s inspiration pulls from our history, our present, and hope for the future in a way that is comfortable for ethnically diverse audiences. All ages will find something to enjoy in her poetry.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
“Overcoming Fears by Honoring Your Inner Truth” -
A youth poetry workshop used as a vehicle of dealing with various emotions and
personal baggage that often prevents development of the higher self. Originally
conducted at the Baltimore Book Festival, sponsored by the Baltimore Office
of Promotion.
“Experience Diversity and Oneness Through Poetry” –
Learn to love ourselves individually despite our differences. Recognize our
common humanness. Recently conducted at Johns Hopkins University.
Workshop attendees will be surprised by what they will be able to create and release.
AUTHOR
Abiola published a book of poetry entitled, Calling All Fathers (July 2010); she’s currently working on her autobiography and children picture books.
RECORDINGS
Abiola Valentine released a CD as a tribute to Tupac Shakur with original spoken word and rap to music entitled, Remembered (September 2016). To accompany her book she released a CD, reading her original work entitled, Calling All Fathers (July 2010). Abiola also released a powerful CD, reading scriptures to original music entitled, The Lord Is My Shepherd (September 2008).
PUBLICATIONS
Abiola Valentine’s work has been published in Class Magazine; Voices Magazine; Jambalaya Magazine (all no longer in publication; will submit copy upon request); and many local publications.
TELEVISION/RADIO/ONLINE
WBAL-TV News; PBS Channel WHMM; Howard University Television (WHUT); and WJZ Channel 13; WOLB, WEAA and WTMD Radio; and Def Poetry Jam online for February, 2005.
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY/CONFERENCE/FESTIVAL, ETC. APPEARANCES
Borders Bookstore (guest artist); Empowering Our Community Conference at Johns Hopkins University; Juneteenth Celebration at Johns Hopkins University; Juneteenth Festival at the George Ranch Historical Park; The African Street Festival; The International African Arts Festival; Eubie Blake Cultural Arts Center; The Baltimore Museum of Art; Black History Month, Baltimore’s Top of the World Trade Center; Designer “Expo” Family Day, Baltimore Convention Center; The Heritage Theater; The Arena Playhouse; ArtScape; Urban Leadership Institute’s Youth Explosion Conference Kick-Off at Towson State University; African American Male Leadership Institute’s Summit, Morgan State University; Maryland Fatherhood Initiative Regional Conference “Focusing on Fatherhood,” Prince George’s Community College; 500 Years of Resistance Conference, Howard University; “We Are Our Brothers Keeper…Especially When He Has AIDS,” St. Joseph Church, York, PA; African Centered Energy in Motion: Unity of Purpose Conference, Atlanta, GA; Black Solidarity Day, Medgar Evers College, NY; National Association of African American Studies Conference, Adams Mark Hotel, Houston, TX.; International Day of the African Child, Mt. Zion AME Church, New Brunswick, NJ; 1st Annual African Festival, Harrisburg, PA; Black History Month, Mt. Zion AME Church, New Brunswick, NJ; Set The Captives Free Outreach Center, and many more.
KWANZAA CELEBRATIONS
Shape Community Center, Shrine of the Black Madonna Church, Southwestern Bell Co., University of Houston-Downtown, and Windsor Village United Methodist Church’s Power Center in Houston, Texas; The Baltimore City Hall, Woodbourne Center, The Palladium, Liberty Medical Center, The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Enoch Pratt Free Library and many more.
APPEARED ON PROGRAMS WITH
Amiri Baraka; Sonia Sanchez; Haki Madhubuti; Ras Baraka; Traci Morris; Asha Bandele; Jessica Care Moore; Askia M. Toure; Kenneth Zakee; Kupenda Auset; Anthony Parnell; Laini Mataka; The Last Poets; His Excellency Ebrahim Rasool, Republic of South Africa Ambassador to the United Stated of America; Honorable Patricia Coates Jessamy; Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ngcobo; Rev. Dr. Ann F. Lightner-Fuller; Dr. Na’im Akbar; Dr. Molefi K. Asante; Dr. Leonard Jeffries;Bishop BarbaraHarris; William Alexander Haley (son of the late author Alex Haley); Jean Carne; Hugh Masekela; Afeni Shakur (mother of Tupac Shakur); Gary Bartz; the late Mary Carter Smith and Ruby Glover, and many others.
MISSION
Create an awareness of self, community, and the world relative to the issues that create divisiveness, while raising the self esteem of African people throughout the Diaspora.
- Educate, motivate and empower others to action relative to political, social and spiritual issues.
- Be a consistent voice for positive change -- for acceptance of all races, sexes and religions, believing that the change must start in the homes and schools of our children before their minds are clouded with the ugliness of the world.
- Demonstrate love for our Creator, for self, and for others, relative to our past, present and future in a way that is comfortable for ethnically diverse audiences. Bring hope and purpose to all communities in these troubled times.
GOALS
- Record several more CDs
- Record videos
- Publish her autobiography and children picture books
POETRY EXCERPTS
Calling All Fathers
(Excerpt)
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
your sons are dying
they are in pain
they are killing themselves and each other.
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
mothers can’t make men out of our sons
we are women
we are mothers
we love and nurture
we teach and develop our children’s minds, bodies and souls
but, we are
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
we do not have the ingredients needed to make men out of our sons
our sons are dying, they are in pain
they are killing themselves and each other
FATHERS, CAN YOU HEAR US?
PLEASE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING
our future is at stake
our villages are falling apart
stop your selfishness
stop your laziness
stop your “too busy” with your job, your ‘new’ family
your community and your friends - attitude
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
your sons are in pain
they are joining gangs in order to belong to a family
they are joining gangs for someone to look up to
they are joining gangs for what they think is power.
CALLING ALL FATHERS
CALLING ALL FATHERS
©Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, April 25, 1997
Dying Young
(Excerpt)
Vietnam he compared to his everyday struggle,
Life pursuit of happiness he tried to juggle.
Vietnam he compared to his everyday struggle,
Life pursuit of happiness he tried to juggle.
So you ask why I weep for Tupac Shukur.
Thug life is what he claimed,
Though his heart stayed pure.
Now who are you and I to judge,
His struggle we didn’t endure.
Women, stacks of loot, and big cars became his lure,
Leave it all up to God let him settle the score.
Yea, he had his own mind,
The business he didn’t design.
This kid was led astray hollowing,
“May Day, May Day.”
Playing roles in the movies ---
Bishop and Birdie wasn’t him.
But to be himself and survive he knew was slim.
As he cruised this cruel world all faith he lost.
Tried to drink away the pain,
Yo Pac stayed sauced.
Author: Reno Valentine
©December 1996
©Spectrums of Life, 2007 – Copyright Claimant and
Authorized Agent: Abiola Valentine (mother)
I Too, Am African!
(Excerpt)
My skin is as almond as Haile Selasie of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;
And my hair is as kinky as Makeda - The Queen of Sheba.
I Too, Am African!
My eyes are as soft as the sunset on Mount Kilimanjaro;
And my lips are as full as a midnight moon on the River Nile.
I Too, Am African!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
It’s Time For Us To Come Together
And Stop Fighting Each Other!!
(Excerpt)
As Our oppressors work day and night on how to keep us in bondage
We argue and kill each other over things that don’t really matter.
We get angry over whether we are black, Afrikan-American, or Afrikan
Whereas if we think and study we’d understand the difference.
We laugh and tease cause we think one is too dark
And we believe the other is light and more beautiful.
Cause we are confused and hate ourselves
Just as much as or more than our oppressors.
It’s Time For Us To Come Together and Stop Fighting Each Other!
We pull some of us down and lift others up
Because of the texture and length of our hair.
Not understanding that it’s all beautiful
Whether it be straight, wavy, or kinky.
We define ourselves by the label on our clothes and cars
Because deep down within we don’t know who we really are.
We think that other races of people are smarter than we
Simply because we don’t know and understand our history.
It’s Time For Us To Come Together and Stop Fighting Each Other!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1991
Kizzy
(Excerpt)
I can still hear your screams
When they took your child away
And sold it to another plantation.
I can still see your tears
When they beat your father, Kunta Kinte
Cause he refused to use the name Toby.
I hear your screams today in my friend
She has five children by different men
And they’ve been taken away to the jails for drugs or murder
Or just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990 Spectrums of Life
Mama Africa Weeps For You My Son
(Excerpt)
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the first born of the universe
to come back home
to come back home
and rebuild the land of our forefathers.
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the creator of science, math, medicine, and dentistry,
the builder of the sphinx and pyramids
to come back home
to come back home
and teach and heal the wounded children of our mothers.
Mama Africa weeps for you my son
the artists, the drummer, the dancer,
the sculptor, the painter, the poet
to come back home
to come back home
to lift up your hands, your feet and your voice
and bring our people to a new horizon of freedom.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
Remembered
(Excerpt)
I want Tupac to be remembered in history
Cause he was no different from you and me.
He struggled to do what he thought was right
But all he got was confusion and strife.
This was a young man who worked real hard
But folks always had him pinned against a wall.
He loved and gave of himself unselfishly
As he was accused of being a gangster.
A thug he was not but a warrior he was
Telling the truth, and taking care of children for the cause.
Sure he was angry, wouldn’t you be
With no father, uncle or brother that would teach.
A self made man with no role model
Struggling to find out what life was about.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
Self Discipline Is What We Need
(Excerpt)
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say
Cause I’m about spreading love instead of hate.
Can’t help but be concerned as I watch some of my people
Walking around with their heads down instead of up like a steeple.
Tired of the same old stories
How long will it take us to get it together?
While others watch us act like fools
Saying we don’t deserve any better?
Self-inflicted diseases are wiping us out
While white supremacists use our acts to justify their doubts.
© Abiola Valentine
December 1989
The African Man!
(Excerpt)
Your skin ranges from cool melon to deep cocoa,
And your hair is as wooly as a lamb.
Your eyes are as tender as an African violet,
Or as fierce as the Sahara desert in the heat of the day.
The African Man!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990
They All Give Praises to God!
(Excerpt)
Smell the clean air, the trees, and the dirt from the soil;
Listen to the birds sing songs of praise
And watch the butterflies as they light on a leaf
In the brightness of the noon-day sun.
They All Give Praises to God!
Watch the sunset preparing for rest
And the stars that give us light in the night;
Listen and watch the frogs croak
And leap for joy as they praise him,
For he made them too.
They All Give Praises to God!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
Triple Queen
(Excerpt)
I have been crowned a Triple Queen
one that comes from royal ancestors
from the motherland of all of civilization
Alkebulan, which was renamed Africa by colonialist.
I have been crowned a Triple Queen
one that has endured and survived many atrocities
that sent many others to alcohol, drugs
and spread their legs open to many men.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1999
We Different But Equal
Created by God, That Loves Us Too!
(Excerpt)
Some of us be African, wit kinky hair,
broad nose and full lips.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, and speak different from you..
We different but equal, created by God that loves us too!
Some of us be Native American, wit cold black straight hair,
thin pointed nose and small lips.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, and speak different from you..
We different but equal, created by God that loves us too!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1989
Revised 2001
We’re Moving Forward in Unity!!!
(Excerpt)
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
As Americans, we are many colors, religions, classes,
ages, body and mental types, and sexual orientations.
We have seen the atrocities of injustice in our land,
but we work to heal man’s inhumanity to man.
We are the red, black, brown, yellow, and white…
from all over the world.
We walk, talk, sing, dance, dress, and eat
different from you.
We are different but equal created by God…
that loves us too!
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
We are Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish,
Kemetic, Mormon, Muslim, Sikh, Washani, Yoruba,
and many other beliefs,
enjoying the freedom that America was founded upon,
believing that God is love.
We are the rich, the middle class, the poor,
and the homeless…
all desiring a life of not material wealth,
but a need for housing, food, clothing, education,
employment, and healthcare for all.
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
We are physically, mentally, emotionally, and
spiritually healthy and broken,
wanting wholeness, a touch, acceptance,
validation, love and hope for our future.
We are the old, the young, and the babies…
sometimes full of laughter and often times
full of pain and tears from too many
heartaches and uncertainties.
We are straight, gay, bi, transgender,
accepted by all as God’s children
not here to be judged by others,
but to grow and find inner peace.
We are a new voice singing a new song
We’re moving forward in unity!!!
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, Nov. 15, 2012
We’re Passing a Baton From Generation to Generation
Of Love, Hope, Faith, Dignity, and Hard Work!!!
(Excerpt)
Sometimes I know you get awfully tired
But hold your head up and keep on going
We’re passing a baton from generation to generation
Of love, hope, faith, dignity, and hard work.
Remember Kunta Kinte and the struggles of his family
We all came from a similar past that helped build America.
Bond your babies at your breast with the love of Kizzy
We’re building future generations of strong men and women.
Fight the rebellion as Nat Turner
For life of death.
Speak with the determination of Frederick Douglass
Refuse to be a slave physically or mentally.
Work for your desire for freedom as Harriet Tubman
Remember that you are not totally free until we are all free.
Walk with the pride of Marcus Garvey
Look back to our rich ancient African past.
Be stubborn like Rosa Parks
Refuse to let another man take what=s rightfully yours.
Move with the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Believe that we will be free one day soon.
Sometimes I know you get awfully tired
But hold your head up and keep on going
We’re passing a baton from generation to generation
Of love, hope, faith, dignity, and hard work.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, 1990
We’ve Got The Power!!!
(Excerpt)
Dedicated To: President Barack Obama and The Wind of Change
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves, our family,
our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power to change
the world by the power of God!!! That power that surges down from above
as if through an invisible extension cord to each and every living being,
spreading light one to another and passed on from generation to generation
to bring us back onto the path of peace, joy, love, harmony and
unity with all people, for we are all one!!!
TO: President Barack Hussein Obama: We heard your call when you said,
“our time has come, our movement is real, and change is coming to America.”
TO: First Lady Michelle Obama: We heard your plea when you said,
“We have this window of opportunity. This chance won’t come around again.”
TO: Sam Cooke: We can still hear your voice singing,
“A Change Is Gonna Come.”
TO: All of America: We heard one another’s voices shouting, “Yes We Can.”
And, for the first time, I too wave the red, white, and blue flag with pride
of the growth of our nation.
TO: All of Humanity: I heard a voice saying, “For you shall receive power,
after the Spirit of God comes upon you.”
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves, our family,
our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power to change the
world by the power of God!!!
TO: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: we fought for your dream that we
will not be judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.
We happily present to you our new President Barack Obama
who picked up the baton of our ancestors to continue the struggle.
TO: Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Frederick Douglass,
you taught us dignity and self-respect, and to stand up and fight
to win equality for all.
TO: Dr. Dorothy Height, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hammer,
Coretta Scott King, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Harriet Tubman, and
Sojourner Truth for teaching us how to be strong amidst bigotry
and hatred. “America is changing”
TO: The men, women and children beaten with clubs,
attacked by police dogs, and sprayed with fire hoses or tear gas by
the Birmingham police, for marching and for non-violent demonstrations;
to the college students who organized sit-ins at lunch counters for hours,
so that we can now eat in public places; to our men who fought
in wars for America, only to return and be considered as 3/5th of a man
with no equal opportunities for education, employment, and housing.
TO: The four little girls who were killed in the church bombing
in Birmingham and were called “niggers” by ignorant Klansman,
we are sorry.
TO: You young people today, calling each other “niggas”
as a symbol of love, with no understanding of the hatred of its history,
we say shame on you……stop it, stop it, stop it!!!
“Nigger” don’t mean brother no more than bitters mean honey.
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves,
our family, our community, and our country, but we’ve got the power
to change the world by the power of God!!!
TO: Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney, both white and black
civil rights activist, who were shot, and their bodies
bulldozed into an earthen dam.
TO: Rev. James Reeb, the white Boston minister, and Viola Liuzzo,
the white mother of five and NAACP member from Michigan,
killed by angry whites while demonstrating for voting rights and
transporting marchers in Alabama. “America is changing”
TO: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Dubois, Adam Clayton Powell,
and Thurgood Marshall.
TO: All ministers, educators, activists and revolutionary artists,
we know your work, and we know your names, thank you
for taking us to another level.
TO: The lawyer, Nelson Mandela, for spending 27 years in jail
for fighting against apartheid, and then becoming the President
of South Africa who said, “For to be free is not merely to
cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and
enhances the freedom of others.”
TO: Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Mbogeni Ngema
for your songs of freedom, educating the world about the
injustices of apartheid.
TO: Steven Biko, Dr. Julius Nyerere, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, and Patrice Lumumba, a change is coming.
TO: Haile Selassie: who believed “that as long as there’s
a philosophy which believes one race is superior and another is inferior,
which maintains first and second class citizens and the color
of a man’s skin is more significant than the color of his eyes
that the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship will
never be attained,” a change is coming.
TO: Joan of Arc: who heeded to spiritual visions and the power of God.
TO: Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel who said,
“A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into
battle is not fit to be a leader.”
TO: Martin Luther, the German theologian who insisted that a man is
justified by faith and not from works.
TO: Ma-hat-ma Gandhi, who said, “You must be the change you want
to see in the world.”
TO: Abraham Lincoln: we believe your words, “The probability that
we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support
of a cause we believe to be just.”
TO: John Kennedy: we too believe that “Those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
TO: Ta-tan-ka Yo-tan-ka, also known as Sitting Bull,
a courageous spiritual warrior, you offered to sacrifice
your own blood for a vision that would guide The People.
“America is changing.”
“We’ve Got The Power” to take back our children, to reclaim
our sense of family and community, to stop the cycle
of sending more of our men to jail than to college,
stop the cycle of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse,
stop the cycle of substance abuse, stop the cycle
of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Yeah, “We’ve Got The Power” to change not only ourselves,
our family, our community, and our country, but
we’ve got the power to change the world by the power of God!!!
(The full piece is published in my book and CD,
Calling All Fathers, July 2010)
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved
February 21, 2009
When I Weep For Tupac
(Excerpt)
Many would ask why I would weep for Tupac
They called, “a nuisance, menace to society,” that led others to destruction;
They called, “a thug, to be thrown away, like a piece of rotten meat
Or buried as a problem now resolved, never to return.
When I weep for Tupac
I weep for a child gone astray and the pain of the grieving mother;
A creation of God never given its due amount of water
To become the beautiful flower he was made to be -- you know what I mean?
I weep for the waste of a human life, misguided burst of energy
That could have been used for the building and uplifting of mankind
To save our dying planet -- he had the power!
When I weep for Tupac
I weep for a manchild caught up in the crossfire of confusion
Between the thug life and doing the right thing;
A young man at the crossroads of self-destruction and fighter for his people.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, September 17, 1996
Who Am I?
(Excerpt)
I am a queen, a king that comes from royalty
Straight from the line of Makeda - the Queen of Sheba,
King Solomon, Queen Nzingha, and Shaka - King of the Zulus!
I am original, an heir to the throne of David, Adam & Eve.
My mind and body built great empires
Long before the new world.
Who Am I?
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, November 27, 1991
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
(Excerpt)
I am so lost and confused that I don’t know what to do
Seem like I can’t never do nothing right so I am so blue.
My teacher yells at me all the time
And the kids tease me and wanna pick a fight.
I don’t know which is worst, my headache or the growling
In my stomach cause I ain’t ate since last night.
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
How can I study and concentrate with so much on my mind
And everywhere I go, somebody wants to touch my behind.
My uncles, cousins, and my mama’s boyfriends
All wanted me in a cruel way.
It hurts so bad when I think of what they did.
They kissed me, touched me in all the wrong places
Said they would kill me if I ever tell.
Will Somebody Please Help Me?
I love and hate my mama at the same time
Cause all she seem to care about is how she looks to a man.
She never hugs me or tell me she loves me
But she got no problem beating me with extension cords,
And telling me I ain't go never be nothing.
Maybe it’s because her mama was never there for her
So she don’t know how to give what she never got.
© Abiola Valentine
All Rights Reserved, July 22, 2013