As I look toward National Black History Month in America, my ancestors turn my lens back in remembrance of them and the past 50 years since the Civil Rights Act in America. We have lost some ground gained, and I realize my children’s legacy must extend beyond a dream, past keeping hope alive and move from yes we can, to sustainable change.
Looking through the lens of my ancestors, whose voices call me closer to join them, while still pushing me forward with urgency to pass on the legacy, they show me little has changed for Black people since the civil rights movements of the 1960's that dismantled overt Jim Crow in America. With the election of a Black President, some say we lost ground because of it. I call it the Nat Turner syndrome. Meaning, when one dares to have the audacity to hope, millions like him pay the price for giving voice to yes we can.
What keeps me up at night is my fear that I have been inadequate to make the difference for those coming behind me. My greatest fear is that my body is insufficient to be the “bridge my children walk across to a better future” (Mfume, K.) That I will not be able to pass on to my children the legacy of my ancestors that things have changed. That the work of my hands in the fields of injustice and oppression, while holding the legacy of my ancestors, has left them too weak to now pass on the legacy to my children. Still, my ancestors whisper in my ear with urgency to do so, to pass on the legacy that goes beyond “having a dream” (MLK, Jr.), past “keeping hope alive” (J. Jackson), or “yes we can” (B. Obama), but forward to sustainable change.