What I Leave Behind Has A Life

For We Have Built Into All Of Us, Old Blueprints Of Expectation And Response, Old Structures Of Oppression And These Must Be Altered At The Same Time That We Alter The Living Condition Which Are The Result Of Those Structures. For The Master's Tool Will Never Dismantle The Master's House.

I Have A Duty To Speak The Truth As I See It And Share Not Just My Triumphs, Not Just The Things That Felt Good, But The Pain, The Intense, Often Unmitigated Pain. It Is Important To Share How I Know Survival Is Survival And Not Just A Walk Throught The Rain.

Whenever A Conscious Black Woman Raises Her Voice On Issues Central To Her Existence, Somebody Is Going To Call Her Strident, Because They Don't Want To Hear About It, Nor Us. I Refuse To Be Silenced And I Refuse To Be Trivialized, Even If I Do Not Say What I Have To Say Perfectly.

Well, I Do Not Want To Be Tolerated, Nor Misnamed. I Want To Be Recognized.

For Women, The Need And Desire To Nurture Each Other Is Not Pathological But Redemptive, And It Is Within That Knowledge That Our Real Power Is Rediscovered. It Is This Real Connection, Which Is So Feared By A Patriarchal World.