Hannah L Drake is a blogger, activist, public speaker, poet, and author of 11 books. She writes commentary on politics, feminism, and race and her work has been featured online at Cosmopolitan, The Bitter Southerner, Harper’s Bazaar and Revolt TV. In 2019 during Super Bowl Sunday, Hannah’s poem, "All You Had To Do Was Play The Game, Boy," which addresses the protest by Colin Kaepernick, was shared by film writer, producer and director Ava DuVernay, and then shared by Kaepernick. The poem has been viewed more than two million times.
Hannah’s commentary on life and challenging others to dream bigger have been recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama. Hannah Drake was featured on the Tom Joyner Morning Show with Jacque Reid to discuss her international movement, Do Not Move Off the Sidewalk, which addresses the power of holding your space. Hannah was selected by the Muhammad Ali Center to be a Daughter of Greatness which features prominent women engaged in social philanthropy, activism, and pursuits of justice. Hannah was selected as one of the Best of the Best in Louisville, Kentucky for her poem Spaces and recently was honored as a Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Kentucky Governor recognizing an individual’s noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to community, state, and nation. Labeled as a change agent, Hannah’s message is thought-provoking and at times challenging, but Hannah believes that it is in the uncomfortable spaces that change can take place. “My sole purpose in writing and speaking is not that I entertain you. I am trying to shake a nation.”
In the year of 20-I -WISH-A-MUTHAFUCKA-WOULD-20, I ain’t explaining ONE THING to ANY White person with a “Let-Me-Speak-To-The-Manager” Haircut! When it comes to my life and the way I move throughout the world, I AM THE FUCKING MANAGER!
Let me be clear, in the words of our great ancestors, “YOU GOT BLACK FOLKS FUCKED UP!”
Indeed, we were all facing the same virus, but we are not all having the same pandemic experience. It has become glaringly apparent that while we are all in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat. If America was out to sea and a storm set upon the ocean, many White people are on a cruise ship, and Black people are in dinghies.
Let me be clear in the Year of Corona since this seems like a difficult concept for some people to comprehend, when I say Black, I mean Black. You will NEVER have to wonder, “Does Hannah mean all people?” The answer is an unequivocal no. If I meant all people, I would have said all people. I said EXACTLY what I meant to say. I do not need any White person (or non-Black person) to come behind me attempting to correct my language.
At no time in the HISTORY OF THIS NATION, have White people ever been told no, and they do not like it. They are like two-year-olds that are having a tantrum because their parents put them in time out. It is fine as long as they are the ones setting the rules for Black people and People of Color. They are uncomfortable being told they can’t gather in groups and go where they want to go. They are upset that things have become inaccessible to them. White people can’t stand for someone to tell them what they can and cannot do.
In a stunning display of 2020 Civil Rights, gatherings of White people found themselves at the Kentucky Capitol to protest Governor Andy Beshear shutting the state down (you know so we can live) in light of the Coronavirus. While the first known case of the Coronavirus in the […]
Let me be clear as Kentucky continues to fight the Coronavirus, enforcing social distancing does not mean the policing Black bodies in spaces. Pause and absorb that sentence. And then read it again.
While I know he is a calm leader, in my mind, Governor Beshear needs an Anger Translator like Luther on Key and Peele. I am volunteering for that role. While Governor Beshear is remaining calm during his daily briefings, in my mind, he is saying, “Give me a fucking break!! What part of HEALTHY AT HOME are some of yall not understanding? Really? You wanna play fucking basketball? REALLY? In the middle of a pandemic? No one is drafting you. NO. ONE. Not one single coach. GO HOME!!
I believe that goodness and compassion are the core of who we are and who we can be. It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic for that to happen. It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to care about our neighbors. It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to be concerned about the least of those. It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to reassess the economic structure of this nation and how it benefits very few at the top and tramples on the many at the bottom. It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to be the village. It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to care.
But sometimes things are turned upside down for us to put them right side up again.
During this time, I challenge you to take the time to see yourself and ask yourself some questions. While I have been home, these are some of the questions that starting coming to the surface for me:
Is the life I have been living the life that I genuinely want to live?
Are the people I am giving my energy, time, and love to worth it?
Why didn’t you pause and take the time to read that book, watch that show, enjoy your life?
What was so important in your life that you put your life on the back burner?
Is this relationship one that I want to spend giving my energy?
Rain is coming. With no clouds in the sky. With no forecast given.With no warning, Black people can tell you that rain is coming. Weeks ago, before the “panic buying” started in America, my daughter told me, “Mom, we need to go to the store and start buying […]
