Today, we have bought into our otherness and are eager to erase it. We erase it in our egotistical pursuit and acceptance of all things Eurocentric. Even as Africanity rises and the diaspora is now present and accounted for in the leaders we aspire to be, we shrink our values and remain disconnected from our truth -- the truth.
Jessamyn is giving us all the permission slip that we have been desperate for---to take up space in the world, no matter what room you find yourself in. The journey to vulnerability is often hard, we lose connection with our voice because at every turn there is someone there trying to force their ego onto us.
Read MoreThis is ultimately why Stacey Abrams sits where she does today, and not as the first black woman president of the United States. Stacey Abrams is a dark-skinned, full-figured, gap-toothed, natural-haired black woman. There was no seat at any table at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave that would have her as a permanent resident.
Read MoreYou know, it’s hard to believe in your dreams, imagine what you can become when it has never been a part of your reality. I knew that what I wanted was a long shot, and the world reinforced that it was just plain ol’ impossible. Until the day that I saw that image of Shirley Chisholm and heard her name. She was like a beacon out in the ocean -- a lighthouse calling me home.
Read MoreI was standing while watching him take his oath, almost as if I was taking it with him. I was so in awe of what he had accomplished. I cried and prayed as I stood there. I kept worrying about him being killed. I prayed they wouldn’t kill him. As happy I was for him, for me, for us, I was afraid to get attached to the idea that he was really the president because I feared it would be over too soon.
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