Today’s (final) thought: I was planning to write about my sadness around having fallen so far back in such a short time. But then I watched Elijah Cummings yesterday, and I decided to change the message. Racists? We are coming for you.
We are coming for you with resolve. Not the way you came for us with guns and chains; not to tie you up and treat you the way you treated us. We are resolved to break down every stereotype you have of us until there is nothing left to hate.
We are coming for you with fire. Not the fire you used to brand our foreheads when we fought against our bondage, but the fire our parents, grandparents, and ancestors instilled in our bellies to not give up, even when you tied us down.
We are coming for you with power. Not the kind that is born of violence, or that was used on us when we didn’t do your bidding, but the power that comes with education and influence. And without ever firing a bullet, if you oppose us, that power will close down your sporting goods stores, bakeries, and law firms in favor of those places that stand with us.
We are coming for you with science. Not the kind you used on us, infecting us with syphilis and using painful vaginal probes without our permission; no, we’re going to improve medicine and diagnoses for everyone through scholarship and our diversity of thought, logic, and experience.
We are coming for your neighborhoods. Not with torches or faces hidden behind cloth, hoping to instill fear while hiding our own shame, but with open hearts and well-trimmed yards and plates of brownies. We’re coming to your neighborhood cookouts to feed 40 on what you fed 4, with better food and more joy.
We are coming for your art. Not the way you did when you crept into N.Y.C. tenements with thin walls, looking and listening for our genius and then making it yours. No, we will infiltrate your hallowed institutions with our craft, honed by the prism through which we see the world. The new art will manifest itself as a reflection of a new kind of beauty; a new way to paint a president; the new shape of a dancer. And your children will breathe a sigh of relief at living in a new world with a new inclusive beauty standard.
We are coming for your culture. Not the way you did, by trying to erase who we were, forbidding our languages and customs, and forcing Christianity on us so we’d stay weak, hoping for a better life after death. No, we’re going to normalize all skin as beautiful, and reframe our colored thought simply as thought. We’re going to serve up culture in your finest restaurants and reject the pablum you’ve been pandering.
We are coming for your children. Not the way your ancestors did, when they ripped us from our mothers’ arms and sold us as property, and then sold us again. This time, your children will come willingly to us, as they see our light, and your darkness; when they reject your traditions that no longer work for them, and see our love is not based on power.
We will be your grandchildren.
We are coming for everything you hold dear, but not to take control, as you did to us. We are coming to show you a new way to look at what we value.
We are coming for you with love.
This story originally appeared in Medium…