To the ancestors who have taught me how to love and fight:
We haven’t talked in a while and I apologize. The fight didn’t lose me, I stepped away from the fight. To gain clarity of mind and an intellectual basis to critique the ideology of America. Tonight you talked to me, and I listened. There is no right path to revolution; activism is a vague shape. You breathed the breath of revolution into me tonight, and I became a living soul. So I promise, I’ll keep writing, sharing, and taking up space because I’m black and was never meant to survive.
To Black women reading:
They only tell you that a woman’s place is to be seen and not heard because they fear your power. You descend from a line of revolutionary figures. Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells who fought for feminism only for feminism to turn it’s back on her when white women gained suffrage. Revolution is in your blood; activism forms and is formed in your body, your holy chambers. They only tell you to shut up because they fear your power.
To Black men reading:
They beat you because they fear your strength; they keep you uneducated because an educated, Black man is their worst nightmare. Malcolm X humiliated a U.S. soldier with just words; Bayard Rustin, hiding from the public in a dusty church, organized the March of Washington to which 250,000 people attended. Despite what they might tell you, there is power in your tongue and strength in your arms. Hug more and uplift, protect, and love the Black woman; she’s been doing that for you since eternity.
To my FoC (friends of color):
Thank you for standing with us and protecting us. We all face discrimination and racism; now is the time for us to unite. You will never be able to fully understand the struggles Black people go through, but you can learn. More importantly, you can listen and you can share. Educate yourselves and your families. Some PoC are anti-Black; don’t be like them. Stand and remain standing. We will destroy the system.
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