CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY.

It's been awhile since I've written a money love letter. This community has been on my mind, heart, and soul and I've been meaning to write to you because I really do love being in this space with y'all.

If you don't know, I moved back into my childhood home this month and acclimating to a new environment has been super overstimulating. 

It's temporary…but even in the temporary, it is a LOT. I think I'm learning that I thrive when I have a routine and a familiar place to nest. Yes, I am a nester. I point this to my sun in cancer lol. 

I will here back/forth in this home for awhile as I embark on my journey abroad this year. It's been nice in a lot of ways, actually. I moved into my Dad's old room, and I feel a sense of closeness with him again. Seeing his cd's, or his signature on old receipts…it's these little things that feel like such a homecoming. 

But I don't want to spend this money love letter talking about that just yet.

I want to talk about Black History Month. 

My Mom has been watching what is on tv and a lot of the programming is only focused on the traumatic history of enslaved peoples.

Let me make this clear. I think it is important to look back, reflect, and know the history.

(my hope is that by looking back from that lens, we'd finally have reparations in this country…but that hasn't happened yet)

However, a lot of the times, the lens is always from a place of looking back at only the pain and suffering. America has a serious problem. Not only because of it's history…

but because America is obsessed with the pain and suffering of Black people.

Black History is more than slavery. Black History is more than trauma. Black History is more than suffering.

Black History has so much to celebrate. So much wisdom.

I don't want us to look at our Black siblings and only see a history and lineage of slavery.

I want us to look at our Black siblings and see a history and lineage of incredible entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes, chefs, activists, healers, and more.

We have to look at both ancestral trauma AND ancestral wisdom.

Let's celebrate the wisdom of Marsha P. Johnson who fought for LGBTQIA+ rights, or the incredible Madam CJ Walker for being the first female self made millionaire (NOT the first Black woman, but the first woman period). How about Eartha Kitt, who always spoke up on the injustices of the Vietnam War AND sang absolutely beautifully. Angela Davis who has always advocated for the abolishment of the prison-industrial complex. Oh, and let us not forget about the sensational Josephine Baker who was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, or Toni Morrison, the first Black person to win a Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. Lucy Stanton (the first Black woman to graduate college), Athlea Gibson (first Black player to win Wimbledon), and Mae C. Jemison (the first black woman to travel into space). Last but not least, in most recent Black History is Andrea Jenkins who, in 2017, became the first openly Black trans woman elected in United States! 

I could go on and on, but I think you catch what I'm trying to say.

This is how I am honoring Black History. By seeing ALL of Black History.

And knowing that Black History is every day. 

Not just one month out of the year.

I enjoyed reading this article by Good Good Good on how to be intentional about the way we honor and celebrate Black History. I also want to recommend Anti Racism Daily's 28 Days of Black History newsletter, and Queerency's Black History Instagram series.

How are you honoring Black History?

Stay Shiny,