writing
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An Artist’s Duty
I was sitting here thinking about how I got to this place of advocating for the restoration of Black history. If it were solely up to me, I would have chosen a less taxing, less unrewarding cause to advocate for. However, in the words of Nina Simone, “I have no choice in the matter. An… Continue reading
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Breaking From Tradition Can Be a Good Thing
Some families keep their history alive around picnic tables, their roots watered each summer by laughter, shared meals, and stories that stretch back generations. Mine did not. On my mother’s side, there were no great migrations back home for a weekend, no sea of matching shirts declaring our kinship, no annual roll call of who… Continue reading
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Community Can Be Healing
I spent the weekend before last wrapped in the embrace of family down in Shreveport and Keithville, Louisiana, and it felt like medicine. We rode horses, walked barefoot through the grass, played with dogs, danced like children to country songs (which was hilarious…them country songs a lil freaky, lol) chased chickens, and kissed the soft… Continue reading
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Rest is Revolutionary
“Do revolutionaries rest?” I laughed at Kathy’s question as we boarded the elevator to find something to wrap up my locs before I got in the water. It was a line from Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X (or something to that effect). I was enjoying some much-needed time away at Kathy’s pool party in Florida.… Continue reading
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Mine
The way my “no” used to get scrapedoff the platelike it didn’t belong there. I used to think saying no was dangerous.That my voicewas optional.That my boundariescould be bentby someone else’s appetite. So I chewed and I swallowedsociety’s thoughts of what I should be.It lingered in the bite I didn’t want to takebut did anyway.… Continue reading
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My Poetry
Black History does not just live in textbooks,but on the tongues of poets. Every stanza is a stepping stonelaid by those who came before me.It echoes of cotton fields, jazz clubs,freedom songs, and community. This is more than poetry.This is preservation.This is protest.This is legacy.This is poetic justice. These words be the revolution my ancestors… Continue reading
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