Life is stressful enough, right? I consider myself to be a normal person. Typical girl with an interesting back story, a survivor of past circumstances, hard worker, life learner, mom of many … always trying to find a balance between three jobs, exercise, family, friends and also have some peace. It isn’t always easy, but I am going to let you in on a big part of keeping my sanity.
My daughters used to tell me I was naive because I was admittedly surprised by stories of blatant racism. Now, they are seen and heard everywhere on television and social media. I still don’t understand how it could even be going on in this day and age. But here we are – this country is at war.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It seems a lot of people did not know about the history of Juneteenth, including myself. I knew it was a celebration for the freedom of slaves, but that was about it. In my quest to listen and learn more about black history, I dove into educating myself on the significance of this day.
In the past two weeks, I have felt as if there were a dark cloud hovering over my brain and body. Restlessly, I have been attempting to keep myself occupied, because doing nothing means I will sit on my phone. Regardless of what social media platform I use, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement covers my feed.
What a week! I am not going to lie, it had some great moments, but the sad definitely outweighed the good. I am not going to be very uplifting, but I am going to share a few things that I learned and do a bit of venting. It has to be done. It has to be repeated over and over to those in the back who can’t seem to hear. Or the people in the front standing at the pulpit who choose not to.
I would like to pay homage to Dr. King and write my own speech about a dream … my dream. One that I hope and pray will come true before I die. A speech that will only be heard by me reading it aloud. A dream I want to share with you, my children, grandchildren, and the world.
Since November 7th there have been a dozen incidents involving racism on or around the Syracuse University campus. The acts have been directed towards the African-American, Asian, and the Jewish population.