Engaging the Black Radical Imagination

Together, the group wrote a collective poem:

Tomorrow’s Children will Say

Open up a box of memories.

Back then it wasn’t activism.

It was just life.

Early understanding of the differences in culture.

So I’d like to ask, where are you placed in society?

Black has many shades, many guises.

You’ll see how your black could be good.

You shouldn’t have to perform ‘blackness’.

Your personality is coming through.

I am valued. I am loved and I am safe.

Bow your head.

We can connect with the people we choose,

warm explosions of realization.

A pot bubbling over

It’s exciting – the power to change the way of thinking

And with that power comes a tool box of wisdom.

We were indoctrinated into a system that has never worked for us.

So spend those first five years talking to our children

and turn vexedness into time to think, to relax, to begin to feel quite calm.

Teach your child the power of their voice

to tell their story with confidence.

Let them know they can always make a choice.

Obstacles and doors – knock them down.

Under the table, through the window.

But we must never forget

one size does not fit all

each child is unique.

What we are trying to achieve here is security,

empowerment, safeness, justice.

What is this inherited education?

A bittersweet pill to swallow.

It’s a toxic chemical.

What you’re starting to realize

is you may need

pearls of wisdom

These mementos for our children and our history,

this supportive network that aligns with our values.

Sweets over sticks.

Tomorrow’s children will say,

we have got energy, space.

opportunity.

We capture each and every pearl.

Time is everything.

With love as your guide,

We will walk in there tall. We will walk in there bright.

I am enough, always enough.

Tomorrow’s children will say,

thank you for setting me free and allowing me to be myself.