In the meantime, I enjoy a nice cup of tea. It has been my solace
as I navigate a world that I recognize fully. I’m smiling to myself now as I
think about how it doesn’t matter who the President is … I am still a woman and
I am still Black. Actually, one of my students challenged me and asked, “how do
you know that you have been discriminated against?” … politely I smiled and
said, “it’s a lot like, you voted and the candidate that you voted for didn’t
win and now you’re in the streets protesting that your voice was not heard … well,
it’s just like that, except my candidate never wins”. It’s hard to discuss race
relations with anyone. However, my students are an amazing bunch of people and
when I see them on campus, interacting with each other and sharing their current
experience, going to college. I see hope.
It’s a holding on hope. Hope that makes a difference when I’m minding
my own business while someone holds their purse a little tighter or makes sure
that they clear a path so we don’t brush against each other or gasps in disbelief
that I am a professor at a university. Yeah, the hope they give me is a holding
hope. A hope that one day it will no longer matter that I am a woman and I am
Black.
Oh there I go! Getting all deep. This was supposed to stay
light, airy, and bright but oh, it was on my mind. … Okay, next week, I’m
looking for some adventure! Hope is what I have to find it!
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