Forward: Next Steps.

The devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Black, Brown and Native communities disproportionately. The masses have been mobilized in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement after brutal murders and disgraceful treatment of Black people reached yet another a long-overdue boiling point. Catastrophic humanitarian crises persist in Yemen and other nations across the globe leaving many without hope of peace.

These events have sat heavily on both my heart and mind during this period of self isolation. Like many, I’ve found myself with an immense sense of duty to help coupled with a profound feeling of powerlessness.

I know better now than to think that I’m powerless. While I may not hold important office or have major influence, I can change the people who I know and effect change within my own community.

We all can.

If we find clarity in the ways that we want to effect change and vow to fight, discuss, address and struggle to make this change come about, our mission cannot be ignored. I’ve been finding strength and excitement in the day to day conversations that I’m having with friends and family about the state of the world. Opening a dialogue has been the first and most crucial step for me.

In doing my work both on myself and outside of myself, I’ve been questioning my role in the world. That’s to say that I’ve begun some serious reconstruction of the vision that I had for my life. Quarter life crisis things, you feel.

In her New York Times interview, poet, activist and author Cleo Wade shared something that has consoled me while beginning to redesign my hopes and dreams: “Nobody tells you what to do when your girlhood dreams bump into your womanhood dreams.” Wade is referring to that moment when the dreams that you had as a young girl become more than just about yourself and begin to consider the larger impact that you want to make on others as a woman.

I feel that I’m steeping into my womanhood dreams in a critical moment.

I’m not completely clear on what these womanhood dreams will entail but as I shape and sculpt them, I will be rooted in the following practices:

Speaking my truth regardless of how it may make others feel.
Taking responsibility for my own joy and happiness.
Having grace and patience for myself and others in moments of uncertainty and frustration.
Investing in supporting my support system and becoming a better sister/friend/daughter/ally/partner.
Showing up ready to work, fight and struggle for the things that I believe in.

On this site I will be sharing my thoughts, opinions and beliefs more openly in hopes that we can create a space for dialogue. Engaging in honest conversation is the best way that I know how to reframe my thinking and gain new perspective. Finding the commonalties and disparities between our experiences helps us to realize how we relate to one another and furthermore, how we can help each other.

While it’s easy to feel inundated with information in the age of social media and technology, I’ve found that speaking to others about their experiences fills me in a way that researching, reading and watching sometimes can’t. Something amazing happens when you’re speaking to someone in real time about the things that matter to them.

So I want to hear from you! I want to talk to you. Let’s make this a community where we can share ideas, questions, frustrations, joys and solutions. Let’s speak on it, whatever it is.

Below, I’ve complied a list of a few resources that I’ve enjoyed reading, watching, studying etc. that center on Blackness. I encourage you to do your own investigation on everything that is happening in the world right know but thought I would offer this as a jump-off point for studying Blackness in America.

Resources for Educating Yourself about Race, BLM and BIPOC Experiences in the US