The Funk, by Nikki Junker

What is The Funk? The Funk is real... If you don't know who Brother Cornel West is you need to google him and figure it out because he will change your life. I learned about The Funk from him... How does he describe The Funk? Brother West talks about The Funk as real life, from "the womb to the tomb" he says... to paraphrase him he speaks that we are born in the funk (the womb) and we return to the funk (the tomb) but spend our entire lives trying to get away from the funk...and ain't that the truth? We spend our entire lives trying to avoid real life... we look away from the horrors of the world, pretend they don't exist, buy perfume so we don't smell the funk of our bodies, straighten our teeth so they are aesthetically pleasing, keep our children from seeing the homeless, hush conversations about addiction and use words such as passed away rather than died.... "they" say this is part of being human..civilization if you will and yes protection from the elements is important for health, life and happiness, but have we gone too far? It feels like nothing is real anymore.... and people cannot handle The Funk.... We need to get back to The Funk... real life...REAL LIFE... R E A L L I F E ... I want to take every adolescent whose eyes are glazed over watching My Super Sweet Sixteen and take them to the streets of Harlem.... Hell.. the streets of South East San Diego and show them this is not real life... real life is eating breathing sleeping surviving and loving...we must not forget the loving.... loving is living but I don't think anyone can truly know what it is to live or to love without experiencing the reality that is The Funk.... What really separates you from the man on the corner who has no home, no teeth and is dying for enough money to catch his next fix? How long would it take to change all of those things? Can you appreciate the fact that you have not been there without knowing just where it is that he is? I am not even sure this makes sense....and I know it takes people a lot of time being with me day in and day out to understand what I feel The Funk is, but wow...it is powerful and I am so thankful to Love for showing me. You have experienced The Funk and it made you alive... it keeps you surviving...it is like a deeper understanding of "when S**t hits the fan".... puking when you hear the words "Your Father is Dead" isThe Funk.... having an area to pee and a separate one to eat in a 3rd world country is The Funk.... Slicing down instead of across is The Funk... Dancing like no one is watching is The Funk... Realizing you do not have food to eat to feed your child or any way to obtain it is The Funk...War is the Funk.... The sun on your skin is The Funk.... Watching your lover stick a needle in their arm because they are powerless over addiction is The Funk... Sex is The Funk.... Changing your Grandmother's diapers is The Funk.... Drum rhythm is The Funk..... Birthing a child is The Funk...The Holocaust is The Funk... is it pain? is it beauty? is it good? is it evil? no...it is none of these things and all of these things...IT IS THE FUNK.....

Copyright 2010 Nikki Junker

** This is such a great read by an amazing young lady, Nikki Junker. She works (like myself!) as a Modern Day Abolitionist in the fight against sex trafficking. So, be sure to check her out. Please see the following:


Nikki's organization's website at: www.morethanpurpose.org


Nikki's Blog at: http://morethanpurpose.blogspot.com/


Nikki's  twitter at: http://twitter.com/morethanpurpose