
Minding My Black Business
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After pulling myself away from "doom scrolling" because I haven't been sleeping well at all, I am somewhat better rested, and on the threshold of a profound realization: We are not just speaking truth to power anymore, we are the power.
I keep informed of course, but I am seizing this time to build my strength. This means silencing the noise machines that seek to pull me off course, and focusing my attention on the gifts God gave me. Using my creativity, my love and my tenacity- I’m focusing on what I can do to nurture my relationships, care for my family and protect my community. And I look to those individuals, institutions and businesses that uplift, affirm, and inspire me and work towards what I value.
Audre Lorde told us that, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” I get that more than ever now. We worked so hard to be included. But it seems obvious that to ensure locking us all out and keeping us down, they’d rather destroy it all. Growing up, my folks called that, biting your nose to spite your face. As we see the destruction of systems both banal in their necessity, hopeful in spirit and horribly flawed in their capacity to do harm, I cannot help but believe that new networks between us will and must forge and grow in strength.
People have been talking a lot about Octavia Butler and The Parables and the main character's adherence to the belief that God is Change. When I was younger, I thought she was talking about the world changing. Now I know, it means that we are always changing, especially when we lean on God. What served us in the past, doesn’t always serve us in the present. If our greatest gift is our ability to make manifest our dreams, knowing how to move to manifest those dreams, necessitates living in the present. Otherwise, we move in old ways, leaning on memory, rather than inspiration. We know the current is always different, that you never step in the same stream twice, but I feel it’s also true that we change along our walk.
This Black History Month I ask you to consider if speaking truth to power is what’s needed now. I believe that time has come to an end. We are the power. It’s manifestation time. And all the dreamers who dream good dreams must awaken.