Sharing as I learn and grow
“It is not selfish to secure our own wellness before helping other groups of people be well. However, what we have done far too often is delay or deny ourselves opportunities to serve ourselves, opting instead to serve others or to naively rely on others to help us after we have helped them.”
“As good as it feels to see these highly, qualified Black people in power (and it does feel good), how has their service directly supported and benefited Black Americans, not to the exclusion of other Americans, but to the inclusion and well-being of Black people? And what happens when power transfers, they retire, or they pass away? What is the legacy? How does the progress continue?”
“The origin story and subsequent experience of Black people in the United States is far different than any other race or ethnicity that calls America home.”
“I implore Black people to stop begging for scraps from social systems that continue to reject us and keep building resources that support and celebrate us. It is futile to expect a system that was intentionally built to oppress us to suddenly change its properties and start propelling us to greatness.”
“With perfect pliés and amazing arabesques, these young dancers sliced through the stereotypes of who could be a ballet dancer. They rewrote the often times racist script that dictated who belonged and who didn’t. Without uttering a single word, the choreography, music and costumes whispered, “I see you. You are loved. You are worthy. You belong here.”
“Trust should be earned, valued and protected. Just because an educator has a license to deliver content or a degree that allows him or her to be an administrator doesn’t mean that he or she can be trusted to care for my child.”
“We are our student’s first line of defense and there is too much at stake for us to fall for the age-old “waiting game” or to cower because we might be perceived as disruptive. Disruption is not always negative and sadly, some educators will ignore parents’/guardians’ requests until they give up. Never give up.”
“Transactional meetings are not enough. Our students need real relationships with people whom they can trust.”
“Shortly after legalized slavery was abolished in 1865, one of the first independent acts that some formerly enslaved Black people did was build schools. They wanted to be educated and they wanted their children to be educated. For generations, they had been intentionally denied access to an education because slave owners and those who supported the institution of slavery knew full well that an uneducated Black person was less of a threat to their sick way of life, but an educated Black person could set the world on fire.”
“For me, Wakanda is more than a fictional, global superpower from a comic book. It is a state of mind, a way of living and being. It is excellence, elegance and the manifestation of everything that is possible when Black people combine faith with work and recognize our inherent power.”