If your timeline is diverse enough, on yesterday you likely saw images of women wearing Chucks (Converse) and pearls in tribute the incoming Vice President and her footwear and neckwear of choice.
You may have seen alumni from Howard University or other HBCUs wearing their respective college gear.
You may have seen little girls posed next to the television while the VP was taking the oath.
You may have seen images being shared of the former FLOTUS in her amazing outfit and flawless hairstyle or the Young Poet Laureate whose words both stilled and rocked the nation or fist bump between the new VPOTUS and POTUS 44.
You may have seen hashtags like #BlackGirlMagic or #myVPlookslikeme or #kamalaharrisday.
If you saw any of this and it left you feeling uncomfortable or disconnected or confused about all the pride being displayed; just for a moment stop to imagine how your friends doing the posting have felt for literally ever other inauguration (except the ones in 2009 and 2013.)
Imagine reading your nation’s history in most books and not finding any respectable connection to it.
Imagine seeing man after man after man take these sacred oaths and wonder if a woman would ever be trusted to do the same.
Imagine proudly choosing to attend one of the many Black colleges in this nation and having your degree held in question or deemed less than simply because of its origin or HBCU designation.
Imagine finally having a woman, a woman of color no less, to win the vice presidential election only to have the results challenged in courts with unsubstantiated claims and lies that she did not win. Then, on the very day her election was to be confirmed by the US Senate, rioters storm the Capitol to attempt to stop the process.
Imagine seeing the colors of your sorority being rocketed into the sky as part of the inauguration fireworks display over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and to see those colors fly just as high and bright and beautiful as the red, white, and blue.
Imagine that all of these things occur 400 years after the first slaves were brought into this unsettled land to literally build a nation that would systemically abuse, berate, and oppress the descendants of those same slaves for centuries. Yes, centuries.
We do not beg your pardon for our excitement yesterday at the election and inauguration of Vice President Kamala D. Harris nor do we wish rub it in your face with our social media posts. We are simply proud.
And, the old adage “act like you’ve been there before” simply doesn’t apply because we haven’t been in this space before.
Yet, here we are. Here. We. Stand.
Here’s another little secret: We like it and we will be back.
Imagine that.
You may have seen alumni from Howard University or other HBCUs wearing their respective college gear.
You may have seen little girls posed next to the television while the VP was taking the oath.
You may have seen images being shared of the former FLOTUS in her amazing outfit and flawless hairstyle or the Young Poet Laureate whose words both stilled and rocked the nation or fist bump between the new VPOTUS and POTUS 44.
You may have seen hashtags like #BlackGirlMagic or #myVPlookslikeme or #kamalaharrisday.
If you saw any of this and it left you feeling uncomfortable or disconnected or confused about all the pride being displayed; just for a moment stop to imagine how your friends doing the posting have felt for literally ever other inauguration (except the ones in 2009 and 2013.)
Imagine reading your nation’s history in most books and not finding any respectable connection to it.
Imagine seeing man after man after man take these sacred oaths and wonder if a woman would ever be trusted to do the same.
Imagine proudly choosing to attend one of the many Black colleges in this nation and having your degree held in question or deemed less than simply because of its origin or HBCU designation.
Imagine finally having a woman, a woman of color no less, to win the vice presidential election only to have the results challenged in courts with unsubstantiated claims and lies that she did not win. Then, on the very day her election was to be confirmed by the US Senate, rioters storm the Capitol to attempt to stop the process.
Imagine seeing the colors of your sorority being rocketed into the sky as part of the inauguration fireworks display over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and to see those colors fly just as high and bright and beautiful as the red, white, and blue.
Imagine that all of these things occur 400 years after the first slaves were brought into this unsettled land to literally build a nation that would systemically abuse, berate, and oppress the descendants of those same slaves for centuries. Yes, centuries.
We do not beg your pardon for our excitement yesterday at the election and inauguration of Vice President Kamala D. Harris nor do we wish rub it in your face with our social media posts. We are simply proud.
And, the old adage “act like you’ve been there before” simply doesn’t apply because we haven’t been in this space before.
Yet, here we are. Here. We. Stand.
Here’s another little secret: We like it and we will be back.
Imagine that.
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