A Love Note to Us
This is inspired by the joys within blackness and the synergy of Juneteenth. Today we celebrate everything we are... and we are... THE CULTURE!
A Love Note to Us
TO MY PEOPLE
Our rhythm is not just movement, it’s memory
Passed from drum to hand, from heartbeat to street beat
We are the ones who turned survival into style,
Who transitioned resistance, now ornaments of gold on our fingers
Intertwined with stories and statements in the fabrics we rock…
We are the spark
In our words, in our walk, in our black-soaked joy
Our language is layered: ancestral, urban, divine, and fluid.
We bless the block with color and conviction
Because, “we cool like that”
They can’t replicate, only hate, gawking cause they can’t get in the club
Tapping on the glass hopping that it breaks…
…and even when it do, we build again…
…and again…
…and again…
What we celebrate today goes beyond freedom papers
It’s about the flavor that came before, during, and after
It’s about us being a culture with endless replay value
It’s about our black stories, lineage, education, and existence BEING the revolution they didn’t want televised
Black joy as inheritance.
Black education as a weapon.
Black love as rebellion.
Black creativity as scripture.
Black slang as poetry.
Black laughter as medicine.
Black grief as sacred.
Black rage as righteous.
Black stories as gospel.
Black presence as proof.
Black culture as currency.
Black being as birthright.
Black art as divination.
Black resistance as tradition.
Black healing as generational repair.
Let the record show,
We’ve always made a way.
From whispers turned anthems,
and porches where hustle and gospel intertwined
From chairs that held our crowns,
and hands that always knew our worth…
We didn’t just show up,
we shaped an entire universe
We been it
Even when they tried to make us forget
Tried to gaslight it,
repackage it into too loud, too bold, too much, too ghetto
We stayed.
We became.
We rose.
So, today
we honor, we remember, we celebrate,
and we live like the legacy we carry
BECAUSE
WE ARE
THE
SHIT!
a few quick notes:
If you enjoyed this letter, consider sharing it on your favorite platform or restacking it on Substack. It’s one of the best (and free) ways to give a creative their flowers in real time.
Feel compelled to sow a coffee bean in my direction? - here’s my Ko-Fi link (never expected but always appreciated). For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently completing a dual focus M.Ed in Adult Education and Instructional Design & Ed. Technology. I have used this educational journey to (re)build my creative coaching practice and strengthen my holistic pedagogy, which has been stressful AF but rewarding. Any donations will always be honored and sown into the exploration and growth of this platform (and the advancement of merging introspective healing into holistic education). Stay tuned for more (but this is where I’ve been!) :-)
ICYMI:
Some of my faves
Becoming Isn’t Pretty, But It’s Mine
Unmasking is a process - a slow, deliberate shedding of the layers built from survival mode. It’s the system shock that comes from the realization that what we often present to the world is a careful construction, designed to make others comfortable, to make spaces more accessible, to make our existence seem easier to digest.
I fucking love this, legacy at its finest 🥇🥇🪙🪙🪙