Black women who overcome draw a line in the sand,
for the next generation to step over, over, over,
till we get to the Promised Land…
I stand here looking back on the souls laid out behind me, the ones who withstood the invaders, the ones who didn’t give in when everything had been taken, the ones who survived. The ones whose voices stretch across time to speak to me, saying ‘Courage Daughter. This land is still yours. The land remembers.’
I pay tribute to those who have gone ahead. To Moremi and Emotan, proud forest warriors. To Amina, Queen of the desert. To Queen Nzinga of Mbundu. To Sirleaf Johnson. To Graca Machel. To Winnie Mandela. To Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan. To my grandmother. To my mother. To you. To all of you.
To those whose names have been swept away by the wind, to those who breath was taken by the waters, to those whose lives were lost in the sands. This land is still yours. The land remembers.
Black woman spread your wings and fly high. The path of our freedom is (still being) paved with blood.
Black women who overcome draw a line in the sand,
for the next generation to step over, over, over,
till we get to the Promised Land…
