OUR VISIONS FOR TOMORROW, TODAY AND FOREVER

 

I'M CHANGING. YOU?

Okay, it's the night before New Year's Day instead of Christmas, but all in all, another day. However, this poem, A Sister Xmas was written in 1993 as a message for Sisters of the World. When I first wrote it, I was talking to my Sistahs. Let me be clear, I was talking to my Black Women friends. It was a time when I had the need to get some goodies for Christmas beyond the mundane and based on the original poem of 'Twas the Night Before Xmas, I relied on a Black St. Nick to bring it to us.

1993 was a time when a lot of firsts happened. For instance, I wrote my first major book, Black Bible Chronicles: From Genesis to the Promised Land, Carol Moseley Braun became the first black Senator in Illinois. We were arriving, and Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington were our fantasies. Well, maybe not everyone's fantasies, but it was my poem after all. I sent it to my Sistahs in a special card I designed and people got a kick out of it. Every year it was the same, but around 2000, I thought I'd add my melanin challenged "sisters" to the list, found some music, and got my friend with a fantastic Barry White voice to be Santa. Little tapes were given to my sisters to enjoy. Technology got better and the poem began to be social media delivered. While I still liked it, sometimes I'd forget to send it out on Xmas Eve. I think I forgot to send it out last year. Can't remember, if it was more than that. Perhaps 2 years, but this year, I opened it up and it didn't fit me at all. It didn't fit US.

On my 60th birthday, I decided to create a 60-year plan for my life. I'm headed to the 68th year of my life. No, I'm not planning on living until I am 120-years old, but I wanted to prepare for the future that I might not get to see myself, but that my grandson and granddaughter will get to experience. I want a world that ISN'T rife with bigotry and hatred. It was the beginning of things like Our House, Face It Friday/Move It Monday talks, 1000Kalema ... what's all this, you might ask? These are movements and models I helped to create. This was me creating tools for tomorrow's action. It is me envisioning a world I won't get to live in by including others who WILL We're 2 decades into the 21st Century and what do we have to show for it? With this poem, I'm showing the strengths and courage of this brigade of women coming to life, hence the change of the poem.

As I look back at where we've been, I wonder if we ever considered what those moments set in motion. I've now written or contributed to 9 books. I have worked harder for others than I did for myself, but I have loved fiercely, without pause, and built a community across race, creed, and religion (that was the 90s and early 21st Century). Now there's an intersectionality movement that some say creates more divisiveness than ever before, making it harder for those who still live in the past to accept, but not me. Overall, it might seem more complicated than ever before but I, well I damn well like it. Life should be a little chaotic and even messy, allowing us to stretch our ability to change. Diversity. Inclusiveness. How far you ready to go? For enough to create a better world. It is my tangible hope. So, enjoy the new poem. It'll change, I'm sure as time changes all. Will you be ready? 

We'll see, won't we?