Naming 'A Thing'
There is power in naming ‘a thing’.
On this day, about which I cannot euphemize the concept of independence, I want to name what so many of us feel: the weight.
The weight of carrying a load that only takes, never gives, that receives with little thought of what it might offer back. We, parched and panting, while it drinks until beyond satiated, belly full, bloated. Greedy.
There is no freedom for the carrier nor for the carried and thus we are all dropped. We put you down. You may rest on your own laurels and we will determine how best to direct ourselves.
Celebrating freedom while navigating systems and people that actively legislate your pain is appalling. Take your rest.
No matter the big and beautiful lipstick language slathered across, it is but yet, a pig. More than political theater, they are signposts of un-belonging, disregard. They say the not so quiet part out loud. To them, WE DO NOT MATTER.
And yet, words have power. And there is an incredible power in naming a thing. A thing we must name. We claim freedom in the land of the unfree. Peace in the discontent of the perpetually bothered, spiritually empty. Liberation in the eyes of the divine. It, the thing we name, is in fact, quite BIG, and immensely, BEAUTIFUL.
We are the midwives and the builders, the organizers and the seers. We have vision that guides the deeds of our hearts and hands. We manifest a freedom, an independence, no petty man can wrap his small hands around to take. It is in you!
We do this work from a permission structure beyond a congress, a gathered body of people who do not read to avoid accountability for their choices. We take responsibility for our actions. We acknowledge our mistakes. We make a commitment to learn. We are not afraid to have the opportunity to know better in order to do better. We lead– well.
We lead while, holding grief, holding disappointment, holding rage, and holding hands. We lead, while dreaming tomorrows, wrestling back our rights, and crafting new hacks to bigger, better, more beautiful future freedoms. We come from the people who make multiple ways out of the no way, small ways of others with a grace and fortitude that seems otherworldly, because it is. That is the magic. And we do it, live it, breathe it, and love ALL of it with joy. Always, with joy.
This is BWLL (Black Women’s Liberatory Leadership Praxis). We do not need to learn it, we need to be it. We need only remember. It is in you!
There is power in naming ‘a thing’ and today the thing I name is the big, beautiful magic that is you!
Be well,
—Dr. Wendi
🧡 The Well