The Cost of Being Brave

Nobody ever tells little Black girls the cost we pay for being brave. Our voices shake rooms and call ancestors from broken places, but nobody ever tells us the toll we pay for being brave. Our backs break under the weight of commmunities, big and small, but nobody ever tells us the tax we pay for being brave.

Instead, they lead us to chaotic waters. Bend our necks and tilt our heads to drink the kool-aid. We serve as test subjects for the anger they cannot let loose.

Instead, they push us to the forefront. They linger behind closed doors and half drawn curtains and wait to see how far we get. Then they come full force and beat us back into our troubled corners while they claim victory.

We pay their price in bloodlines. Generational trauma and poverty strip away our imaginations. The rest is left to our own minds to toil over…and over…and over. Nobody tells little Black girls that their sadness is not theirs alone to carry.

Nobody tells little Black girls the price their mothers paid for being brave. All we see left is the scar. One on her right knee and another on her wrist. Nobody tells little Black girls the price their sisters paid for being brave. All we see is her shadow.

Nobody tells little Black girls how to sing her own song in her poetry. We learn that in our bedrooms with the doors closed as we cradle pen and paper.

We learn the harshest truths when nobody is around to save us.

A Lesson in Literacy: Reading Is A Political Act

In elementary school I had a hard time learning how to read. Reading aloud on the multicolored rug in my kindergarten classroom evolved into a mix of subtle traumas. It was not until my mother emphasized the power of words that I felt empowered to read. Soon weekend trips to the Enoch Pratt public library on Pennsylvania Avenue became my favorite weekend activity with my mother. Her love, guidance, and patience drove me. She never gave up (and still her love is unwavering). By second grade I grew into my book nerd identity. I devoured stories of Junie B. Jones and Nancy Drew. At the core of my love for reading was my mother's emphasis: reading opens worlds to you.

My mother's lesson was a political act. She was teaching me valuable lessons about the ways people are kept in the dark. By giving me books my mother gave me the world. It gave me social capital because books taught me how to play the game. Books taught me code-switching, dog whistle politics, and Black feminisms. Without books I would not know bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, Marsha P. Johnson, and Janet Mock. Reading is a crucial step in liberation.

Attacks on public libraries, public schools, and prison libraries must be understood as violent. The intential censorship and removal of knowledge is violent. Banning books is an act of war. Disarming Black and Brown people, especially Black and Brown children, through the banning of books is criminal, but we rarely highlight these atrocities. We cannot minimize the impact of these things. 

Banned books teach the most important lessons. Across the United States incarcerated folk are not allowed to read a variety of books from The Color Purple to The New Jim Crow.  The politics of which books are banned and which books are not is a conversation about power. Banning books removes power and agency. It silences the marginalized. It reinforces oppression. 

I will never forget my mother's lesson. I will continue to fight for the freedom of Black and Brown people. The freedom to read without the threat of violence is crucial to Black liberation. We must rally together as a community to uplift marginalized folk. Donate to activists and advocates doing the work to educate us. The revolution does not happen one leader at a time. Revolutions are collective acts of resistance. 

One organization I am supporting this year is Justice 4 Black Girls. Their commitment to advocacy for the education of Black girls is directly connected to the fight against mass incarceration. You can follow them on Instagram at @justice4blackgirls and follow @brie.b for daily doses of knowledge on how to better protect incarcerated Black girls.