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Detailing a trail leading to answers I always knew,
But didn’t understand
I tell her, “You know exactly who you are.”
So act like it.

Publicly shared my poetry for the first time in several years last week…
I felt so free🕊️🍁💫 by @systemicprogression

Let me tell you ’bout this girl,
Maybe I shouldn’t
I met her in Philly
And her name was Brown Sugar❤️🍯🕊️

Philly Art Museum Summer ‘21

Thankful for life, thankful he left this sultry soulful legacy

It sounds like this day to me,
It sounds like nostalgia✨ by @systemicprogression

$Post Cowboy Carter Thinkpiece: (Not Americana, Black Americana.) Really from a lineage of survivors Stolen people, trafficked to the center of empire, with a fractured memory of their continental motherland🌍 Where are we “really” from? I mean ethnically, I mean geographically, dear Black girl in America? Decidedly, elsewhere🌹 Because when you try to remember crumbled pages detailing where your true origin is, And think about how 400 years later, the house you built still doesn’t quite still feel like home, You question if it ever will… You ask, “Is there reclamation here?” of a space where you had to beg to be seen, In a place that renders many of us still and countless others invisible? Because if you don’t identify with this house, There is no other house you can name to satiate your edgings toward escapism. This is who you are. Is this who you are? This is all you can name. Is this who you are? Ironically, the answer is less consequential the way you ask these questions, you descendant of an African, an American enslaved. Whether you claim it or not, The experiences shaping your questions lead distinctly to you Fish swimming in water don’t always realize it Just like we often don’t realize our cultural contributions and legacy to a society we are steeped in, country music being one of many things You come from greatness. You come from a counterculture, a choir of voices that can never be suppressed, Demanding this nation to live up to any semblance of the ideals it professed since its inception But frequently failed to live up to. In your double consciousness lies your power, That any song you sing could never be uncritical, because the necessity of resistance was steeped in survival So, in the midst of it all, you birthed cultural revolutions that have reverberated globally If you had asked me where my ethnic origin was from just 7 years ago, I might have told you, “I don’t know because of slavery.” But truthfully, you come from this origin point, an unbroken connection 🌍 Which has traced its way through America into 400+ years later. And so now I realize, “I don’t know” is far too insufficient of an answer ✨ by @systemicprogression$

POV: These photos are from 2021. I think of this song as a tender love ballad to my past self💕

Yesterday, I facilitated a workshop about Toni Morrison and Bell Hooks’ and their rich scholarship on Rest and Healing❤️ It was our first virtual event for SBAN in a while and 20 people came🫶🏽

During the workshop, I asked participants to take a second to imagine their younger selves.

When you visualize your younger self, what do you see?

When you think about where you were one, two, three, five, ten years ago,
interpersonally🔗,
geographically🌎,
spiritually🙏🏽,
mentally🧠,
and otherwise, who was that person and how have they changed?

So I challenge you so write a letter to your past self, starting like this:

“Dear [insert your name] of [insert younger age you choose] years old,
I am proud of you, I am here because of you, I cherish you, and where applicable, I forgive you. During these past few years, I have learned quite a bit about rest, and here is what I have to share…”📝

The *type* of rest we focused on is “reflection”, the relief that comes from “thinking it through” to become at peace with yourself💕

Internal peace enables the abundant gifts of wisdom and discernment to flow through you.

What are things you now have learned about self care that you would tell your younger self? 🐣
About taking a break? ✨
About grounding your desire to help somebody in the truth that *you, too* are somebody?❤️

Love you down, Baby Kay❤️❤️❤️
Most of these pics:
📍🇬🇭Legon Botanical Gardens, Circa November 2021
📸: @fuh_lish_uh

@namakau.star apologies for the spam lately, but I found your 2022 EP on Spotify and it’s been on repeat all weeeeek😭🔥✨

#freedomdream #selfcareisntselfish #mentalhealthawarness #blackwomenblog by @systemicprogression

I am so thankful for my journey, and I wouldn’t trade it for all that I am learning. I question where I am in this present moment sometimes thinking, “How can I take the next step that it best for me?” Cause one things for sure, two things for certain: I am simultaneously exactly where I need to be and yet I’m still on my way. God’s got my back always❤️ by @systemicprogression

One of the most amazing things that you can do for yourself and the relationships that you maintain around you is to set boundaries and to practice good spiritual hygiene🍃✨🌨Access to me and my energy is a privilege, so I humbly treat it that way🌞🌞🌞 You be the same way about your energy, family. You deserve vulnerability, unfettered love and joy, and abounding opportunities to dust yourself off + try again🌈Give yourself that grace and surround yourself with other individuals who will cultivate that world for you and for others🌛But first, to do that, you have to understand that you need to set boundaries to measure who is willing to give you the same respect that you radiate to others🌊You owe it to yourself and to your community😘 Close that door every once and a while to open the door for new beginnings💕Go Where You Glow baby❤️

Original song: Doors Closing by Hiatus Kaiyote 🪐🌟🌏 by @systemicprogression

Oh the Places you’ll go,
Oh the People you’ll meet,
Oh the Vistas you’ll see,
Oh the Tongues you’ll speak,
Oh the Stories you’ll tell,
And the Clarity you’ll have as well,
And in All this Life that you Live,
The Most Treasured things will be the ones you Give💕 #grateful #connected #springhasprung🌷 #myworldisabundant #befree🦋 by @systemicprogression

A Poem in hashtags:
#itsgiving #whatitssposedtogive #purplearray #ofsunrays #thissaturday by @systemicprogression

Song: 07 Cicada by Hiatus Kaiyote 🐾
This is a short poem I wrote today because I feel so distressed sometimes about systemic issues we have yet to solve. And too many people are complacent in their privilege. If someone is speaking about systemic injustice and you belong to a group that is not marginalized in that context, please take the time to truly analyze and just listen. Why would anyone want to be in community with you for a cause of collective liberation if you can’t even acknowledge their patternized oppression?
👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣
So, on the mirror, people want to show up (with) and (for) you when they are assured that you will listen and not be dismissive of their struggle. Re-evaluate. Listen. Grow.
And if you are the one hurting, take a breath. That is a simple action which must be followed by a subsequent series of other actions: that is, to seek community that will understand, to seek guidance from the Most High God, and to remember that there are always people who are understanding and worth it despite the issues you may see in this world. Healing comes in steps, and that’s how a journey of 1,000 miles begins (subtle plug for Lao-Tzu’s OG Chinese proverb)💜

I do not own the rights to the song utilized, i admire this jawn a lot tho✨ please check out @hiatuskaiyote music if you can, their whole Choose Your Weapon album was type fire or whatevaaa🥵 by @systemicprogression

Happy 92nd Bday Martin!
I just wanted to make this little tribute to Martin by quoting some of the things he said, particularly trying to shine a light on the more radical philosophies. In our schools, we are taught that he is passive to a fault. His words have been weaponized to justify color blindness and docility in circumstances of violence. He was truly much more dynamic and radically just of a thinker than what he is made out to be. Also, I always appreciate learning about how the Bible was a penultimate source of strength and inspiration for his activism. I’m always so excited to hear from radical Black Christian activists like him. I’m tired of Church folks who declare that it’s okay to be complicit in someone else’s oppression in the name of Jesus😭 No Karen, I will not turn the other cheek or see through differences with people who don’t want to extend people who are different from them human rights. You’s a Pharisee to me✌🏽😌
Also just wanting to put this out there, I want to also appreciate who he was in the entirety of his humanity, as a father, a husband, a friend, a son, a relative, a human being. Happy Birthday and Rest In Peace King✨

•••••••••••••

I do not own the rights to the photos used and the instrumental was “Runnin’” by Pharcyde
Photos, Quotes, and Art:
Widewalls.ch for Black Art Photo
Pinterest for silence maintains violence
Ig @the.mirror Martin quotes
Ig @redfishstream Martin quotes
Me smiling with the deuces photo creds to Isabelle T.
Brandeis University Archives MLK Smiling
MC Hammer Can’t Touch This by @systemicprogression

After 400 years, what is the way forward? Where do we go from here? Ujima is collective responsibility and accountability. We have goals to continually work toward that we must compassionately, honestly, and intentionally push one another toward healing after so much that the community has gone through. We must also push one another to do better, that we may reject antiBlackness as it shows up in our communities and in ourselves. Let us help one another, embrace one another, and hope the best for one another❤️🖤💚 Celebrating #thirddayofkwanzaa #eventhoughthisisalatepost #haha

I do not own several of the photos used in the video or the instrumental used. The photo sources are listed below. The instrumental was (a song that I been loving and an artist who is so amaze balls) nonamehiding and the original song is DiddyBop💓 hope your week is going well y’all!!
Sources:
ParentingForLiberation.com Ujima explanation photo
IG: @makedaisychains BLM hashtag photo
IG: @poetryofms Healing
IG: @odessaamsterdam Anti Colorism by @systemicprogression

Day 2 of Kwanzaa (technically yesterday teehee) is about self determination. To me, self determination means that our communities are capable of banding together to advocate for and secure the resources that we need and deserve. We are strong especially when we act together as a unified front. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. In whatever circumstances, you are still worthy, capable, creative, and a visionary!

Community and grassroots: Organize, advocate, and execute🙌🏽

I do not own the instrumental used, this is If These Walls Could Talk by Kendrick Lamar and the images (I took the footage of the trees haha so those are mine) are from the following sites on Google images:

BloggingBlackMiami.com
ParentingForLiberation
Amazon.com

Love y’all✊🏽❤️ by @systemicprogression

Systemic.Progression💕

@systemicprogression