Celebrating my Blackness… My moment with Wretch
With my Marigolds on, (got to protect those hands), big headphones wrapped around my ears and Wretch 32 cranked up, I attacked my dirty dishes with a vengeance.
As I danced round and round my tiny little kitchen to one amazing black artist and tune following the other, I sobbed and I laughed. I danced the hell out of my emotions, the grief, the pain, the confusion, the anger and my sleepless nights.
The image of George Floyd pinned face down on the ground, crying out for help, as they slowly took his right to breathe. Faster and Faster, louder and louder, how many more?
Why, because of the colour of his skin?
The colour of my skin...
The colour of my child’s skin...
‘Breathe!’ ... ’He is safe!’…’You have nothing to prove!’… ‘Know yourself! … Be proud of who you are and celebrate everything!'
Present to the realness of the moment, my whole body felt the pain of yet another life so brutally taken, in such an inhumane and meaningless way. I span and span, danced and danced, Wretch’s lyrics fuelling my outpouring....
"We don't follow no crowd, they follow us
Don't follow no sound it follows us
Go sit in hell look down that wishing well
Unorthodox we call our own shots
No one can hold us down again
No one will touch our crown again
No one can hold us down again
No one will touch our crown again…”
(Wretch 32, Unorthodox)
As my body settled, I felt the importance of the moment, the preciousness of life, the reminder to live and the privilege of each breath I still get to take. I felt the connection to the moment, the connection to the words I am because you are (Ubuntu). The connection to, your pain is my pain, your hurt is my hurt and your joy is my joy.
#JusticeforFloyd - Black Lives Matter - Celebrating my blackness!
Mary Daniels
Speaker - Author - Consultant - Real Conversations