As Black History Month 2022 flows in, we may run into Black images, experiences, narratives, and historical and monumental events and shifts like no other month. I still think the celebration of Blackness should be reflected in everyday, but that’s a shift for another day.
As we take the time to celebrate and honor Black history, I also hope you take the time to self-reflect on what being Black means to you?
To go beyond what Black means to those who you follow, to those who have served as great mentors, and to those who have created pathways for you, but to really sit with yourself and ask yourself what it means to you. I wonder what the truth in your answers to this question will bring up for you.
Being Black is complex, filled with meaning and wonder, and can be burdened with trauma and anger;
Being Black is not a monolith as our experiences are not entirely the same, yet through the different languages we speak, there is a common bond and undertone;
Being Black carries a uniqueness that we grow through life finding the words to describe;
Being Black is unifying and distinct, both of which can progress us forward if harmonized well, both of which carry with it a level of compassion and accountability, a level of responsibility and ownership, a level of autonomy and freedom; both of which if paired well, can multiply the impact we make.
Being Black is yours…yours to create and yours to learn from, yours to change and yours to impact, yours to find power within and yours to shape into a new reality;
I don’t say all that to answer the question for you, but to get some ideas flowing, to get your truths to flow to the top of your mind as you get real about:
What does Being Black mean to you?
As you reflect, may you reflect with honesty, may you release shame in the process, and may you positively communicate with yourself even if you greet truths that you didn’t realize about you. Sometimes, we have to teach ourselves how to have hard conversations with others, not realizing, it starts with having hard conversations with our selves...our individual selves.
How often do you check-in with you?
Written by Kheri A. Corbin,
For those leaning how to navigate tough conversations with their individual selves and others,
For those learning how to own different parts of their identity,
For Those Black Athletes
And
The Ones Who Genuinely Love them