VOF Week 2: Reclaiming Ourselves

“Young Black Woman
what’s your name?…
It’s pride and beauty
For I have no shame.
I’m Young Black Woman.
You know my name.”

Sebek Sanyika

As girls, where do we go for useful information about ourselves and our lives? Even today as an adult with a background in research, I have a very difficult time finding information related to Black girls and their development.

Author Muata Ashby writes, “Womanhood can evoke transcendence: liberation, salvation, and self-realization.” Author and activist Audre Lorde stated, “For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit rises…”

We are all over the world. Females of African descent are a diverse group, so I do not attempt to represent us as one monolithic group. However, too many of us walk around not knowing that we are divine representations, part of the big picture and part of the universal design.

The way that I grew up was different. As a Black female, my history of slavery, racism and sexism in the United States and abroad are unique. This makes some of my experiences and feelings difficult for some to predict, comprehend, and accept.

It is crucial for Black girls to have a foundation of self-awareness because they complete the physiological changes of puberty before girls of other ethnic groups. And we are most likely to be miseducated about our culture, heritage, gender, and potential. There are things that we should know in order to not just survive, but to thrive, flourish, and be successful. With what we see now, I wonder how well we are thriving or surviving: media-savvy teenagers with little common sense or critical thinking skills, victims instead of warriors, prey for sexual predators, oversized children with limited perspective of the world.

Disenfranchisement from our own selves has occurred with such intensity and consistency that it has become normalized behavior, unrecognizable ignorance. The resulting individual and group behavior is dangerous. This is what motivated me to start Sisterhood Agenda.

One of my missions with Sisterhood Agenda is to share unique information in a meaningful way representative of the highest service. I share the information as I get it. The more self-aware I become, the more I know about myself and the more I can share with others. Therefore, I am always on a path of self-discovery in my own journey.

We all share this responsibility and obligation. Author Alice Walker writes, “Guided by my heritage and a love of beauty and a respect for strength-in search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.” She also believes, “Every small, positive change we can make in ourselves repays us in confidence in the future.”

The "work" is not just about ethical responsibility, but personal social responsibility in respecting each other and treating others are you would want to be treated, doing what is right instead of what is popular, and helping others in our collective paths toward greatness.