Growing in Black Love
February is #BlackHistoryMonth and a great opportunity for increased exposure to black stories and culture. Awareness is an important first step. However, let's keep it going all year long. I am striving to grow in my allyship and so want to continue my efforts beyond February. Excited to hear your thoughts and to get us started here are three sources where I am seeking wisdom:
Authenticity is defined as when your external expression is aligned with your internal experience. - Dr. Tina Opie
Dr. Tina Opie is continuing to change my life with her Shared Sisterhood frame of dig, bridge and advance. I am honored to be part of her and Beth Livingston's Shared Sisterhood Program. In working on my racioethnicity assumptions in the dig phase, journaling and reflection have been key. Asking the why behind feelings and reactions is helping me find biases and blind spots. I continue to work on getting more internally authentic with my external expression of black love. Take the time to do deep thinking and self-reflection to start your own dig phase.
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Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public. - Cornel West
One of the resources that crossed my path during #BHM was the Black History Freedom & Love from MasterClass. Cornel West started the class off with the concept of #BlackLove. The echo of this call to action to be a love warrior, for example like Harriet Tubman, has started to shift me at my core. It is hard to love at a distance and once in love it is hard to be separated. This is a new frame for me in considering how I help to build a stronger bridge across race. The frame of love contrasted with the frame of obligation are suddenly shockingly different for me in my journey of allyship. Thankfully, I didn't finish the class during February as it is a wonderful ongoing learning journey in black history, freedom, and love.
I got my start by giving myself a start. - Madam C.J. Walker
I love to read books. And I am taking up the challenge to actively seek out books that help me grow in black culture. Want to join me in this challenge and need some ideas check out these lists from Goodreads list, TED list and Oprah list. I started the year with Passing by Nella Larsen and continued with Self Made by A'Lelia Bundles. What are you reading?
Administrator at Apple
3 年Nimependa sana iyo kama inafundisha natamani kujifuza zaid ya hapaa sasa?
Tax Partner at Deloitte
3 年Love this Sharon. I will "pile on" and endorse watching the HBO special on Frederick Douglas, noting that I had to be educated on all of his vast contributions in enhancing Abraham Lincoln's evolution of thought.
Solving SALTy Problems for Multistate Business Enterprises | Woman in Tax | Lawmom
3 年I also watched the Masterclass program this past month. Highly recommend. I came away sincerely wishing so much of what I learned was taught in schools when I was growing up.
Retired
3 年My favorite historical figure growing up was Abraham Lincoln, so I decided to buy and read "The President and the Freedom Fighter" about Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The latter I had never heard of as a boy, and that is a tragedy for us all. The book helps put into perspective how both rose from humble roots, and the impact each had on a nation struggling with the scourge of slavery. Today I just finished watching an HBO special "Frederick Douglass in Five Speeches," that was excellent and really helps illuminate how important his speeches and writings were, and should still be. I hope to read some of Douglas' writings in the coming months. Slavery is over, but prejudice still haunts the America we live in today.