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ladylarae-blog1 · 6 years

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Grand Rising

For my people. I would like to start this article off by stating that I love who we are.

I love the darkest shades of us. I love the lightest shades of us. The love that I share for my people goes far beyond skin tones. I am constantly amazed by our inner beauty, our natural elegance, our resilience, our tenderness, our strength. I love that you are me, and I am you. Yes, we are all physically different in one way or another, but the true essence of us - the fight that we have, the fire that we posses - is a true indication that we are all one.

This message is for all of my people; from the descendants of slaves to the descendants of our forefathers from the mother land: family, it is time for our rising.

It is my intention to unite us. All of us. From those who are ready and willing to bring about change for the betterment of our communities, to those who may be afraid to go against the grain to take part of the revolution. This is a call to and for action for us as a collective.

I plan on writing articles, think pieces, documents and all the like to empower us. WE have been asleep far too long, and though my words may not reach all of us, I feel that for the ones needing to hear what I have to say, my words will find a home in their hearts.

I would be lying if I said that I don't believe a lot of our people are content with how things are going for us. I know a lot of us have found comfort in not knowing who we are and where we come from. Sometimes the truth can hurt. It's no secret that we have been placed at the bottom of the barrel in our society. This is a secret that is not new in any way, shape, or form.

Being that I have always been interested and intrigued by the history of our people, one pattern that I've noticed is that we have been fighting the same fight for hundreds of years. At a young age, I've noticed that there was an unspoken agreement (not to be confused with the word "truth") about the plight of our people, and that was the agreement that according to society, we were considered to be "less than". Less than worthy to have our children attend schools that would allow them a fair chance to learn in an environment where they would be able to compete with those children who are educated in much better neighborhoods. Less than worthy enough to not be racially profiled and harassed - and to NOT be brutally shot down in the streets. Less than worthy to have the nerve to stand up to the injustices that we see and encounter daily and have encountered for decades. Our parents have seen it. Their parents have seen it. And so have their parents, and our ancestors before them. It has been a never-ending cycle. We've been dismissed, attacked, killed, ignored, lied to, lied on...the list goes on. It's a disheartening reality when you sit back and look at what we've been through and continue to experience.

Call me a dreamer, but I believe that we have it in us to change that narrative. I know that we have it in us to right the wrongs that has been bestowed upon us. I know, because we have done it before. We have beautiful history of coming together, in becoming one and moving on the same accord. If we had the power to do that before, we have the power to do it again - but better. WE hold the power for change. We all have to want liberation. We all have to act on that want, as well.

How is it that we can achieve liberation?

It is imperative for us as a people to know where we come from. We have to know about our past so that we can assess where we are now, and move together towards a brighter future. Yes, we know about slavery, and that we were severely oppressed during that time. It's funny because in a lot of movies that has been released with the intention of representing us, we are widely known for being just slaves. I'm not saying that we should disregard that aspect of our past, because slavery is just as important to our story. BUT, what about the movements that we've participated in that has given us some leverage in this society? The Black Panther Party. Black Wall street. And recently, Black Lives Matter, to name a few.

For too long, we have been indoctrinated to believe that we do not deserve to have equal treatment. We've come to accept what we're given. "That's just how they do us" is something I hear often. "It's because we're black." This level of thinking is NOT OK.

Why are we not taking matters into our own hands at this point? Why aren't we depending on each other? We need to first be liberated from the ideology that we are undeserving. We need to be liberated from the belief that we have to look for sources and people outside of our communities to acknowledge and to bring about the positive change that we need. We need liberation from depending on a system that has historically shown to us that we do not matter, regardless of how much we yell, march, scream, sing, pray, fight and die.

Follow me as I take an in-depth look into our past. Join me as I put together the pieces of our present. Walk with me into a better future. I plan to shed light on our past leaders, people who have unselfishly put their lives on the line for the betterment of US - ALL of us. I also plan on finding solutions. Anyone can give a history lesson - I want us to be better together before we ARE history.

I say all of this to say that WE need each other. We need to have a discussion about where we go from here as a collective. What are we not going to tolerate? What do we need? What do we deserve? How can we help one another? What is our code of conduct?

Stay tuned for future articles, discussions and thought-provoking pieces. This will be the first of many, many letters.

I hope you like to read because I like to write.

With Love,

Rae

#blackpower #blackisbeautiful #melanin #blacklivesmatter #melaninpoppin #iloveus #powertothepeople

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