#loveblack

This is not me preaching. Just making sense of things for myself. There is a level of contradiction in all of us - we are complex, and human. Hands up, I’ve ordered from Amazon a lot during this time because it is convenient and immediate...but I have to pause and ask myself, who am I funding?... I digress. Hopefully I can make sense of this thought process.

While we grieve and protest, the big white man is still working on how to create more labour for his labourers; on how to capitalise on circumstance mid-pandemic, mid world-panic. 

And by 'big white man', I mean their corporations are still capitalising; while we are dying and grieving, and angry, and hurting, and being numbed and - some of us - allowing ourselves to be dragged further steps behind (I’m guilty of allowing grief to demobilise me yesterday. I say guilty because my people do not grieve in stillness; we dance and sing and praise and wail and love in grief).

I say this to say the ‘big white man’ is not pausing his life. He is too far disconnected from spirit to care. He works on all days. He takes no rest and he has insurance.

I understand #blackouttuesday but I also understand the ethics of doing the work and staying ON - buying black, educating black, loving black. In making #blacklove a lifestyle. In shining #blacklight in the ways we do best. 

In fact, I prefer the term #loveblack because it makes LOVE the affirmative – like love is what has to be delivered to everything black, in ACTION. Black everything. Action, in doing the work to build black UP to a fair start in this place - on this earth that we were born equal - and that begins with connecting to spirit, in believing in black imagination (open dialogue here, stay with me…I’m also speaking to myself). We all know seeds grow in darkness and are then brought up to light. I pray I see the growth of #blacklove illuminated, bright, beyond this. We still have a lot of work to do communally, but I am glad this looks like change.

A lot of us have just learned how to navigate this inter-web, inter-realm of social media platforms in this interim as a true means of connecting and communicating truth; I for one have a love-hate relationship with the way social media, much like mainstream media can still pull controls to distance us from each other; to censor our culture and control our narrative; how authenticity can still be misconstrued. We are a people of movement; we are a people who work best gathered physically, in numbers, channelling power, beating the drum of a unified song - be that in praise or in rebellion. We do not do well divided. Hence our choices also have to be black to stay connected, to build, which I have seen today…in a very loud and public prayer and in conversation, because ALL our voices are necessary and the conversations must begin between us before they can move beyond. We have all been trying to understand each other today, to unify our voice.

That does not mean we cannot go into spaces beyond our community, but know your purpose, live your mission (if it sounds like I’m preaching, it’s because I’m talking to myself and this is the best way I know how to show up). You are resident of this earth and have every right to be on her, to explore her, to learn her…but ‘survive or thrive’ says we must maintain our own first so that there will be a lifetime where we do not have to scream to anyone else that we matter; so that we have our own, on top of basic human rights. 

Today I took in some of the bro Mikel the Energy’s #WorldChanger wisdom (always here for the #loveprogramme), and then I went inwards. I’ve spent the last few days working…on designing my creative healing circle (having completed a Level 2 Creative Healing Facilitator course by M J Fontaine which has turned out to be so necessary in this very real time). I continue to design and seek work for my students that I can always be happy to teach, work that takes their very present day into account; work that places the students’ culture as capital (more on this in another post). This has included sharing The Black Curriculum’s initiative in my online staff meetings. These days have also been inclusive of me continuously checking my very black self on how there is always room for learning, reading, research, expansion of knowledge both interior and exterior. This has shown me that I still have inner work to do, but also that I am exactly where I need to be right now and that I must go where spirit leads.

I pray this is the start of me seeing that from today everyone can truly #loveblack, in action. But given the dire state of the world and the scales of economic power, I know that this feat will take some more time. A feat that is achievable if we continue to move like this.

This post is my word to myself - to stay consistent.

I love y’all. 

CL

Thank you to my Zwaggy for sharing this song with me.

In the works as contribution to @lettertomybody although I can’t promise this will be the next post. Gotta go with spirit.