Save the Black Family, Save the Black Community

Juneteenth - the Start of Something Greater!

We are a few short months away from the launch of Uncovering Your Power: The Guidebook to Escaping Emotional and Physical Abuse. The timing of this book's release aligns with our country's current frustration and heightened temperament around injustice, allowing for a seed of hope to be born.

I am awakened, encouraged and hopeful at the progress society is making in identifying injustices and speaking out in a way that has been so necessary for so long. Not only are black people fighting for one another, but people of all backgrounds and races are standing up for equality and an end to systematic oppression in America.

It may seem like the needle is not moving, but any consistent step in the right direction brings about change. I am proud of the change I see coming.

This weekend so many of my brothers and sisters celebrated Juneteenth and in doing so uplifted our own tradition. We watched, participated and enjoyed planting a new seed together - showing America our united love for one another. Our ability to embrace one another as a community. In doing so we began to educate the country as a whole on what Juneteenth means to us and why we aspire now, to celebrate it loudly, proudly and collectively.

Establishing our own traditions and embracing each other with love and affection are the hammers that will loosen the chains of bondage around our hearts. Bondage that was systematically bred but community spread.

The heart is a powerful vessel. Within it we hold the power to manifest or destroy.

Broken hearts are often so difficult to restore in the sense that the pain from discouragement after discouragement, pain after pain, loss after loss have the ability to harden what is meant to be the most vulnerable piece of us. It is important for us to take an active approach in limiting the hurt and pain we circulate amongst each other because of the injustices aimed at us.

Sadly, we did not create the pain but we are left with the difficult process of destroying it.

The great Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

The root of our ability to restore our communities and a respect for the black man and woman begins with our ability to learn to love, forgive and embrace each other.

Juneteenth was a beautiful start. In the spirit of our ancestors, may we further the celebration and love of one another in a way that will help massage away the pain and lay a new foundation of hope for our people.

With love,

Nicole Brittney, Author of Uncovering Your Power