For me, fostering racial healing, building our capacity for antiracism, and manifesting justice resonates JOY! I feel honored to engage in this movement with committed co-laborers. The synergy is life-giving. However, sometimes I get frustrated by imposed challenges. There are times I sit discouraged in isolation as I contemplate a way forward. I ruminate, “what is the next step?” on this road less traveled. And finally, there are those times that I am exhausted by the feeling that absolutely nothing is happening – NO growth, NO progress, NOthing!
Can you relate?
Earlier this month, I wrote an article for (In)courage, called, Embracing the Mire, Mud, and Mundane to encourage those of us who need an expanded perspective as we slowly advance on our journey.
The encouragement was inspired by the book I coauthored with Dr. Tehia Starker Glass, Teaching for Justice & Belonging, a Journey for Educators & Parents (August, 2022). As with the book, the article draws on seed-growth and gardening metaphors to illustrate healthy, sustainable, but time-consuming growth.
And when we prefer fast-and-easy over cultivation’s demand for commitment, persistence, and endurance, we are destined to disregard the very things that will help fortify our yes. We fail to appreciate the mire, the mud, and the mundane that coexist with our yes.
Our ‘yes’ refers to our taking on the responsibility to leave a legacy better than the one we’ve inherited. We will plant seeds for fruit in which we may never delight. In the meantime, we need to understand that that slow growth is NOT ‘NO growth.’ Growth is happening!
Read or listen to the (in)courage article and be enCOURAGEd!
Lucretia is a wife, mom of three, and a former college professor, who founded Brownicity with the purpose of making scholarly-informed, antiracism education accessible in order to inspire a culture of true belonging and justice for all. Her 2017 TED Talk, ‘Children will light up the world if we don’t keep them in the dark’ is well received, as well as her books and courses:
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