BLACK EXCELLENCE AT ITS FINEST

I wanted to start this first culture piece in 2021 on a positive note (start how we mean to go on right) and you would have to of been living under a rock not to see the plethora of #blackgirlmagic, #blackexcellence,  #melaninqueen, #womensupportingwomen, #gurlssupportinggurls hashtags all over our socials this week.

What better way to start this year with the demise and good riddance of anti-democratic Trump leave office and the Queen that is Kamala Harris walk into the White House. Yes, she is the first ever female and first Black south Asian woman to be the Vice President-elect of the United States. Whilst it boggles my mind that a woman has never ever held this position, let alone a woman of colour, it was the camaraderie of the Black women on the stage outside the US Capitol building, that really warmed deep in my soul.

I have always held the position that we, particularly, women of colour need to amplify our own voices, lift each other up and provide support. There is no joy in being in competition, to covet what the next woman has. How will we progress authentically if we try and own and keep what we learn, experience, build etc from each other? I don’t believe there is room for that. And to see Kamala H and Michelle O look at each other with knowing eyes, the pride radiating outwardly of what this achievement means to them, was EVERYTHING. It’s the Black woman magic for me & women supporting women.

And they made space for the young Black woman in the room, coming up in the ranks, our next generation of beauty and power. The ‘She’ that is Amanda Gorman who really stole the show.  The first ever youth poet laureate in the US, a 22 year old that read her poem so wilfully, purposely & with such beautiful confidence. Her words raining down on each and every person on that stage and on every TV screen across the world.  Her lyrics resonated so deeply, I had to watch it at least 4 four times. And if anyone ever tells you, you can’t achieve or do something in your life, take Amanda’s lesson and live it – you will be astounded to hear she has overcome a speech impediment (using a song from Hamilton to train herself) and boy did she deliver… each and every word in that poem dropped like precious stones. THIS is a lesson I’ll be teaching my own child, that if you fight from deep within yourself and hold on to the light, you can achieve anything. She is an inspiration.

in Verse

“The Hill We Climb,”

‘We, the successors of a country and a time, 

where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one’.

Watching these strong Black women at the helm, makes me feel even more positive, inspired and passionate about this four year presidency.  Lets hold on to it’s a ‘New day for America’ like a life raft and in light of all the Black lives lost to police brutality in the USA, let’s hope that Kamala is able to use her experience as a prosecutor, to be a real change agent across the country and make fundamental and tangible shifts in police reform.

Because we all know, for our sanity, it’s absolutely imperative for democracy to be reinstated across the world.

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