Today is February 1st.
The first day of Black History Month and the first day of a month entirely dedicated to love.
In celebration of both, I wanted to share a few thoughts, and a few quotes, that I think speak to the way in which I hope we can all navigate the next 27 days.
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in rage all of the time — James Baldwin.
I know in a time where we should be celebrating our Black community and experiencing pride of how far we’ve come, the recent death of Tyre Nichols and the plague of violence that still ravages us makes it hard to feel such pride and joy. I personally didn’t watch the video, nor have I followed the story in depth, but I know a loss like this feels all too familiar. It it hurts just the same. Like, really hurts. But in this month, I chose to hold on to hope. To rejoice in my blackness and continue to live with authencity while I still can. I especially choose to spread comfort and love to as many people that need it, now more than ever.
Speaking of love, there are still many facets of it that I have yet to understand. I’ve found myself often in a position where contending with the love of self and holding on to hope of experiencing love from another is a struggle. Nowadays, it’s gotten harder and harder, and sometimes I worry if I’ll run out of strength to stay open to the joy that comes with both. What I have learned, however, is that love is a spectrum. A sliding scale that never stays in one place. As the day goes by, so too does the scale tip either closer to feeling full of love or further away. Wishing for it to remain consist is futile, but choosing how I receive and approach it helps.
So, rather than just dismissive optimism, I choose, once again, to hope.
Hope for better days where loving myself is easier. Hope for love to find me and stay for a while. Beyond myself, I also choose to hope that the same love I wish for also finds someone else. Because at the end of the day, that’s all any of us want: love.
Quotes on Blackness
- “What they do not know is
The pride I have in the blood that runs through my veins;
The pride I have in my rich culture and the history of my people;
The pride I have in my strong family ties and the deep connection to my community” — idowu koyenikan, Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams - “By demonstrating excellence in whatever skin we wear, we challenge ignorance by our very existence” — Andrew Howard
- “For who else would teach rhythm to the world that has died of machines and cannons? For who else should ejaculate the cry of joy, that arouses the dead and the wise in a new dawn? Say, who else could return the memory of life to man with a torn hope?… They call us men of death. But we are the men of the dance whose feet only gain power when they beat the hard soil” — Léopold Sédar Senghor, Chants d’ombre suivi de Hosties noires
- “Being conscious of Global Blackness is knowing that we are not an island of our struggle but a nation of our triumphs. That’s blackness to me” — Luvvie Ajayi
Quotes on Love
- “True love does have the power to redeem but only if we are ready for redemption. Love saves us only if we want to be saved” — bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions
- “I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart”— Alice Walker
- “Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is a learned application without reason or motive except that it is God” — Toni Morrison, Paradise
- “Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within” — James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
