This week, Senate MINORITY Leader Mitch McConnell held a press conference after he toured the Regional Biocontainment Lab at the University of Louisville. During the press conference, McConnell spoke about the 1619 Project. The year 1619 is a pivotal year for the United States because it was the […]
You do not get to demand that I respect my oppressor! You do not get to demand that I respect officers that have teargassed me for doing nothing but demanding justice! You do not get to demand that I respect the very people that are killing those that look like me! You do not have the luxury to sit in your ivory tower and write laws that demand that I respect people who have shown that they have absolutely no respect for Black people!
Understand that you do not get the next Maya or Amanda by silencing Black girls. You do not get the next Maya or Amanda or even Hannah by putting Black girls in a cage. There is something inside of Black girls that will always long to sing no matter how many cages you attempt to put them in. Try as you might, you cannot beat that song out of Black girls.
This month, while I appreciate you learning about Black people, I am challenging you to learn about White people. Take the time to learn the TRUE story of White history. Don’t take the time to believe the made up history but look at White people’s reality in America. Don’t take the “this isn’t me” route, but look at White history as a whole. And go into it knowing the history will not be pretty. It is not a history laced with lemonade and apple pie. It is not the history that you have been taught in high school textbooks. But it a history that is filled with murder, mayhem, and pain. It is a history filled with the unimaginable suffering of Black people at the hands of White people. If White people take the time to do that, everything you wanted to know about Black people will become evident. You can never know me and the truth of Black History in America until you are ready to face yourself.
As I read their statements, their hypocrisy was like a weight sitting firmly on my chest. Do they actually believe what happened in DC is any different from what has been happening in Kentucky? Take off your blinders! Before any Kentucky politician speaks about Washington DC, you must first look at what happened right in my Old Kentucky Home.
Wednesday, January 6, I woke up celebrating that voters in Georgia snatched the coveted crown of leadership from Majority Leader (now Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell by voting Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff into the United States Senate. It was a glorious day as we also awaited Congress certifying […]
But for once, take yourself out of the center. Focus on the well-being of Kentucky and ask yourselves, is this the best use of our time to serve the people of this state? Ask yourself how will we use this session to impact the lives of Kentucky residents for good? How will us being in session make this state better for all people?
Maya Angelou said it best, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” What is it that we are not believing?
What more does this world need to show Black women for us to believe? How much more disrespect must we take, before we believe? How many more times do they have to steal our work, our creativity, before we believe? How many more Breonna Taylor’s, Sandra Bland’s, and Atatiana Jefferson’s do we need? This world has repeatedly shown us what they think of Black women.
To be sure, these White people are not 70 million Ku Klux Klan members. They are not 70 million people decked out in preppy gear walking downtown streets with tiki torches. They are not 70 million people with shaved heads and swastika tattoos. That is the idea that many people need to get out of their heads. These are everyday people that you would see anywhere.
As Black women we are challenging White women to have difficult conversations with their friends and family. That challenge doesn’t stop for Black women because a White or non-Black person is your friend. The foundation of friendship is truth and honesty.
It is because I am your friend, I am going to challenge you.
It is because I’m your friend, we are going to talk about race.
It is because I am your friend, we are going to address your anti-Blackness.
It is because I am your friend, I am going to let you deal with tough conversations, and I will not be there to rescue you.
And know, as your friend, I am not canceling you, I am challenging you.
