A video and blog series for AWOFINC & BLACK
By: Ally Christiani
As a writer, words serve as a comfort. I always found beauty in English words and our ability to manipulate them to deliver a purpose; change or engage an absent mind. Langston Hughes, a poet from the Harlem Renaissance, masterfully uses the English language to create definitions for words that can be considered the hardest to define.
Freedom is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
Listen, America—
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
–Langston Hughes
The fight for freedom in any sense, has been the definitive connection across humanity. When observing American history, one can determine for sure, that this fight has been in consistent pursuit.
Freedom is indeed, a great need.
I began studying American history on a quest to identify parallels and reveal answers to better make sense of the present. The Old World ultimately, discovered the New World as the consequence of a desire to be free from the burden of inconvenient trade routes. In 1619, slaves were brought to America to give freedom in the sense of time and labor, to the first Americans by quite literally stripping another race of their own. The American Revolution was fought for liberation from British Rule; that is, to inherit the freedom of being their own country. Plantation elites instilled the idea of superior and inferior races to free themselves from the guilt of profiting off of stolen autonomies.
In sequence, to demonstrate the power of historical parallels, revolutions inspire revolutions. The backs they lashed, lashed back, and forced the South to reckon with their capitalistic crimes. The Civil War forced this reckoning and temporarily brought a sense of rebirth. Oppressive systems transformed and Jim Crow birthed segregation, disenfranchisement, white supremacy, lynching, incarceration, and police brutality. Revolutions counteracted just the same…Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Freedom Riders, ’67 Detroit Riots, ’92 LA Riots, March on Washington, Bloody Sunday, Ferguson 2014, the murder of George Floyd 2020…
What has changed? I hear people ask. Well, everything and nothing, is the appropriate answer.
These events of the past in comparison with the present prove we are connected intrinsically; and yet, it is the presence of this disconnect that allows history to continue to repeat itself.
We march for George Floyd connected to the protestors in the 1992 LA Riots. We cast votes at local polling centers connected to the almost 200 black victims killed by white mobs in Opelousas, Louisiana in 1868 for trying to exercise their right to engage in the political process. We kneel at sports games, connected to the black GI’s returning home with the aspirations to be included in the 1944 GI Bill benefits only to be denied access to every one of them.
In my video and blog series developed for BLACK/AWOFinc, my goal is to address this great disconnect between our past, our present, and ultimately the future. This realities America created and therefore must address to achieve the truths they claim to be self-evident… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Langston Hughes tells us freedom is a strong seed—singular—just like the sun there is one. How we nourish it determines how it will grow—education, speech, collectiveness, power, and empathy.
I hope for you to explore these questions and topics with me as I take a dive into the systemic issues facing African Americans today in relation to the past. My goal with this project series is to help plant the seeds, the ideas, and equip you with the knowledge to support others growth –to improve society for everyone.
MORE INFORMATION:
This project will highlight and explain the different ways systemic racism exists and prevails in our society. It will be released in parts tackling each individual issue, how it functions, and the history behind it. The topics include but are not fixed to:
Education
Health Care
Police Brutality
Voting Suppression/Political Engagement
Justice System
Housing
Wealth Gap/Poverty/ Employment
The series is scheduled to begin within the first few weeks of January with an official launch date TBD.
Be sure to follow along on social media platforms to stay up to date on the release date and each release/post after that.
Instagram: @2BlackExcellence
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