#BrainPhart It tears me up inside to read the comments of self hate, ignorance and battery.. why is that we cant just accept that other human beings exist and they will individually show the world who and what they are without regret!!
I’ve always been a “natural cheerleader” .. my voice has always been loud.. many of my movements made in stealth.. one has no idea how behind the scenes can get ya “front and center” .. we live this life to the fullest.
Making no excuses, taking no prisoners.. hopefully expressing freedom in venues and genres never contemplated.
Many cry for us.. the descendants of the survivors of the MAAFA.. they say we have no culture.. can’t find our roots.. don’t know where we come from. … and yet still WE RISE!!
I’ve had many a discussion that if in fact the Middle Passage had not occurred.. we wouldn’t have flavored the world. Forced migration has led to world wide infiltration.. yet if we could keep #Connectingthedotsacrossthediaspora.
To consider this world without Africa’s multi generational descended children spread across the globe would be a travesty.. it’s a double edged sword.
There will be a day.. it’s coming.. as these DNA results come full circle.. when families will have the means to break bread and be one.
Is it a dream? My own family .. those who flow from Lucille & Charles is spread thin.. USA.. UK.. JAMAICA.. 1st, 2nd & now 3rd generations of cousins never having the opportunity to play and lay foundation.. they didn’t get the chance to experience their grandparents now departed en masse.
I think about the great grands as they enter this plane and how will they be introduced to their cultural heritage.. yes they have one.. being Jamaican is not just about flag waving.
When I think of those who never had the experience of making it to the island .. yet do know how to respond to the rhythms.
That identifying core.. that which makes one more than the politically correct label one has acquired through filed papers and parental migration. I am grateful.
Grateful that I was born in one land.. of parents from another.. journeyed to yet another and in the midst of that had the opportunity to “cut teeth” where my parents were born.
Someone asked me other day if I needed to know what tribes in Africa I came from.. it hasn’t really been an interest of mine because Ive always had a rich heritage and culture to draw from.. to base my actions.. stories and history from.. I am Jamaican.. do I need to dig deeper?
Yes, #Connectingthedotsacrossthediaspora, I want to go to the places where the ships docked.. get to the locations of Toni Morrison’s Bench by the Road.. coupled with the cities that participate in the Middle Passage Remembrances indicated at www.remembertheancestors.com
I’d want to explore the “gifts and skillsets” that came with the Africans from their individual regions and how these customs and practices have been carried down through time and their current application in African descended daily life across the globe.
My cameras aren’t the greatest but my passion is genuine. I’ll get where I need to be when the time is right.
Never neglect who you are inside.. your spirit depends on it.
msbjpeart - Moments with Brenda Jennifer Peart 