I was invited to reflect on Black History and Black Futures today, so I wanted to share some of the lessons I’ve learned from Black philosophers, artists, and creators about how to live a good life and the skills that I want to practice in doing so.
JOY
“It’s important, and radical even, to find joy in difficult times–to recognize how terrible things are but that we still have a right to joy and a right to freedom.” -Roxane Gay
STORYTELLING
“There’s an unspoken message that the only stories worth telling are the stories that end up in the history books. This is not true. Every story matters. My father’s story matters. We are all worth the of telling our stories and having them hard. We all need to be seen and honored in the same way that we all need to breathe.” -Viola Davis
(and)
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community. I hope that my being real with you will help empower you to step into who you are and encourage you to share yourself with those around you.” ― Janet Mock, in Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
IMAGINATION
“Civil rights work and social justice work take imagination, to imagine a world that isn’t there, and you imagine that it can be there. And that’s the same thing that you do whenever you imagine and insert yourself in a future space, or in a space where you’ve been absent.” – Ava DuVarney
SHOWING UP
When we show up and we demand respect for our humanity, everything changes. -Billy Porter
RESILIENCE
“I am a commitment to building a vibrant, transformative movement for Black liberation. To get closer to my commitment, I practice the things that help me have a durable and resilient heart. Because I know that building movements is hard. Hell, change is hard. I know that I will have my heart broken a million times. I know that sometimes things will be hard, that I will be hurt and I will hurt others. Being a commitment to a durable and resilient heart is a commitment to our people, in all of our complexities and messiness. It is a commitment to myself and my purpose. It is a commitment to healing so that the world that we dream of can arrive as the world that dehumanizes us gets dismantled.” – Alicia Garza
Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed by injustices and sharp difference between the world I want to live and the world that exists now. These lessons help remind me that a commitment to a better future requires a durable heart to endure the heart breaks. That it requires showing up, finding joy, telling our stories, and ultimately imagining and working towards a tomorrow that’s a little brighter than today. And when the scale of that seems too big, I remind myself of India.Arie’s words: “Start with yourself, and healing will multiply.”
Tengy Thoughts 