*SoapBox Encouragements*
Today it feels like good is out numbered by the forces of evil (racism, sexisms, homophobia, and all the other phobias and isms too)... BUT that is not the truth. Evil just so happens to be screaming louder.
First, we must accept that today and the last few weeks have royally sucked. We have a president elect that is an admitted sexual predator and bigot, a Vice President elect that is a million times more evil, Islamaphobic and homophobic, and an incoming presidential cabinet filled with bigots of all flavors. We got a rise in violent acts of racism and bias. Children have been acting out in hateful ways within schools. Folks are vandalizing churches, and so on and so forth.
Here is a bit of a reality check... though the electoral votes and these crazy folks running amok would have us believe that the majority of our country is bigoted, the popular vote tells a different story... We have not been outnumbered, we have been out-witted.
If we want to maintain this path toward justice, peace, and inclusivity, we've got to keep speaking up. We have to continue to speak truth in the face of lies. We have to speak for ourselves and not allow base sound bites built on prejudice to define or synopsize our lived experiences. We have to believe and emphasize our value and our presence even when everything these forces do attempt to make us believe otherwise. We must build bridges with our allies. Find the courage to take on political positions. We must build networks of protection for ourselves and for those who do not possess our privileges. We must gain access to the spaces that they are trying to keep us out of. We will organize. We will maintain. We will resist. We will fight. We will protect. uplift. Energize. Empower. Revive ourselves. We will as we always have. We can and we must.
And when the history is written. It will be our names on the side of good. Our names on the side of victory. That within us is greater. Our unity is the culmination of all of their fears.
We indeed are the change we have been waiting for. First we prove this to ourselves and then we take on the hate of our world.
àṣẹ
#BlogPost #SpeakOverYourself #ImEncouraged #IAmTheChange #FightingBack #HateWontWin
feeling exhausted.
A note of advice for my well meaning White friends and associates. Today is not a day to debate race and police brutality with your friends of color, specifically those that are Black. We may not know Alton Sterling personally, but we know these circumstances and this feeling extremely well. This sense of fear and violation has been implanted in our psyche for centuries. As far back as the slave trade, slave hunters, lynchings, unleashed dogs, burnings, rapes, assaults... We as a people have been afraid to BE.
I live in constant fear... You probably haven't noticed because I work very hard to hide it. I fear for my life, my husbands life, my family in other states, my students... I am most anxiously afraid about the prospect of having black babies. I am scared to be put in the position to lose or explain this type of loss to my babies.
So today, I don't have it in me to teach you, model for you, perform for you. I'm not up for the thrill of a spirited debate. These ain't just words and fun conversations for me. This is a real life that I'm struggling every single day just to live. I do not currently possess the emotional fortitude, nor should you expect me to.
If you want to change the problem, figure out what you can do to fix a culture that allows for the continued murder of black and brown bodies without consequence. Figure out why certain agencies are overrun with individuals with problematic past and ideologies of race. Figure out how you can work to dismantle racism and its perpetuation in dominantly White communities.
Today... While we figure out once again how to love ourselves past fear, pain, and hopelessness... Work on you and yours.
