Last year, Virginia commemorated 400 years since the first Africans were tortured, brought to America against their will, and enslaved in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We gathered, connected, fellow-shipped, healed, and elevated one another at Fort Monroe, as part of the Commemorative events.
Project 1619 blessed many of us with the opportunity to participate in their "Take Me to the Water" renaming ceremony and sunrise service, where several were baptized in the waters, cleansed, and bestowed a new African name.
The year 2020 marks the beginning of the next 400. Black Americans are the epitome of what it means to persevere, and rise far above expected circumstances of what society has created for us - for over 400 years. America has worked diligently to establish broken systems intended to hinder us from achieving, to include: her Education system as a WMD against the #BlackExcellence narrative, the crabs-in-a -barrel lingering mentality from slavery, the roadblocks businesses experience when securing funding, the use of social service programs to attack the Black Family Unit (particularly during the crack epidemic of the 80's-90's), and much more - yet we continue to RISE!
Despite every effort that was created to bury us as a people, we have persevered, and made the impossible very possible. We continue to not only survive, but rather thrive and excel in fields where the rules were created to box us out - but 400 years later, we stand firm as key influential leaders of the fields.
Today, we hold major influential roles in: media, government, education, the arts, science, technology, sports...you name the field, we are present and politely blinding competition with our light!
Our question to our readers this Black History Month, is "Where do we see ourselves in the next 400 years?"
Our ancestors have planted firm seeds for us to thrive and live their wildest dreams; how will we do the same for generations to come, who will be reflecting on our contribution to the Black narrative in the next 400?
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