Okay so it’s Black History Month and I feel like we need to put a few things into perspective, the first thing is that even if you live in a predominantly black country or city it is still important for you to take the time to reflect on the past, recognize the present and look forward to the possibilities - the impact of institutionalized racism is far reaching, there was a time when men and women who look like me and you could not hold certain priviledges that we enjoy today. It is always is not only about asking how can I remember and learn about black people and how far we have come, it is about all of us asking, “how can we love Black people by seeing them, hearing them, relishing in them and creating a world where Black people feel loved, inspired and protected?”

One of my faves, Langston Hughes (1901 - 1967) wrote this poem that was revited in me when I was younger and it speaks about dreams, whether it be dreams for our society or in our personal lives:

HARLEM
By Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

It is a short, terse and vigorously expressive poem that seeks to answer its own question via a series of images and the use of simile and metaphor - figurative language - and it presses on the imagination. Mr. Hughes is suggesting that this dream is already delayed and frustrated and that time is of the essence - this dream has to be fulfilled or else. The final line metaphorically sums up the whole notion of what can happen when an individual's or a people's dream fails to manifest in real time. Oppression, societal pressure, prejudice and historical baggage and other factors can play their part in denying the dream.

I feel like this Black History Month we should focus on those dreams for us as a people, the dreams we should refuse to let dry up and sag. The dreams that will give us work which may seem like a heavy ass load but we will let it result in sweetness instead of rotten meat so that the efforts of our forefathers may not be in vain and the sweet reward will be unearth by our future generation.

STAY BLACK & PROTECT YOUR MAGIC!