Hello All:
It has been a good long while since I have posted to my blog. As a Collective, we are still enduring the most. What has helped so many of us endure in spite of all the tumult, is our connection with one another.
Recently, I had the good fortune to work with a Sister Scholar, Khalia Li, to speak a word of encouragement over our graduate students who were preparing to present their research at an event. Days prior to the event, we experienced yet another horrific massacre of Black folx in this country. 10 Black people were gunned down in a grocery store in Buffalo, NY by an 18-year-old white supremacist. Khalia and I have worked to support our graduate students in processing trauma-inducing situations like this (and so many others) during the students’ two years in the program.
On the day we were to speak a word of encouragement to our students on behalf of our department, Khalia and I were emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
Worn out is a more accurate description.
We allowed ourselves grace and space to be honest, to lament, to be undone, to not be ok.
And, we wrote as we allowed ourselves to be.
Here is what the Ancestors spoke into our spirits as we lived out our truth. Whatever you are commencing into in this season, please let this piece speak to you in the ways that heal your heart and spirit.
Wishing better for us all.
THE AUDACITY TO PREVAIL LEADERSHIP STATEMENT KECIA: In the spirit of leadership, we would like to invite you to observe a moment of silence with us to acknowledge the 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York; 1 Taiwanese person in Laguna Woods, California; who were killed over the weekend due to domestic terrorism. KHALIA: It has been under circumstances like what we just acknowledged that have been the backdrop of our scholars graduate experience. Navigating the tensions between celebrating the progress of their research, while acknowledging the realities of our current social context. KECIA: To our scholars: Know that It is with humility that we honor the quality of your presence and contributions these past two years. KHALIA: With respect to our task today, we invoke the wisdom of our Ancestor, renowned Author, Anthropologist, Cultural Critic, Filmmaker & Truth teller Zora Neale Hurston. Mother Zora said that "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." KECIA: Couple that “prying with a purpose” with the transformative power of leadership, one can create projects that change communities, work environments, all while addressing and eradicating social dis-ease. KHALIA: It is this transformative spirit of inquiry with purpose that we celebrate each of our presenters today. KECIA: We would also like to acknowledge the innovative leadership of one of our own, Dr. Nydia Sanchez. Those of you who attended last year’s virtual Action Research Symposium experienced first hand how curiosity, met with creativity and purpose can transform our experiences. KHALIA: As we close, we invite you to hold up the harm and the healing with us. The both, and of our collective experiences. KECIA: As we breathe in what has been, we exhale into existence the blessings, the power and the audacity to prevail, KHALIA: to re-member, KECIA: to reclaim, KHALIA: to embody, KECIA: to envision beyond the limitations KHALIA: in order to co-create a world where co-liberation is actualized KECIA: as a manifestation of the promise of our Ancestors.
Episode 21 – Know Thyself, Know for Thyself & Rise into Resilience – More Than Metaphors hosted by Dr. Kecia Brown
- Episode 21 – Know Thyself, Know for Thyself & Rise into Resilience
- Episode 20: Do You Have a "Love Space?"
- Episode 15: Poem – The Mothers Have Come
- Episode 19 – Part 1: The Nikole Hannah-Jones Effect: The Black Woman’s Artistry in Flipping Scripts and Tables
- Episode 19 – Part 2: The Nikole Hannah-Jones Effect: The Black Woman’s Artistry in Flipping Scripts and Tables
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