Doctorant et travailleur social basé à Tiohtià:ke (Montréal). Profitant d'un mode de vie à l'abri des algorithmes manipulateurs des géants du web.
PhD student and social worker based in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal). Trying to live a life less controlled by the algorithmic manipulation of the tech giants.
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I am magic, cocoa powder, shards of glass and shrapnel, and the deepest parts of my grandmothers' imaginations. I am savory and sweet: salt, sugar, and lime, possessing the gentleness of the brightest lilies and the strength and temerity of the most destructive storms.
Most important, I am worthy. And that was the critical shift.
— You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke, Brené Brown (Page 24)
I embraced joy as my birthright. Radical Black Joy is inherent as a human need and not some special trinket you get after you rise high enough on the socioeconomic ladder or unlock some special level of desirability or accomplishment. I decided I would claim and manifest every fucking thing someone told me I couldn't do-my birth mama, these raggedy niggas who used my body as practice, my baby daddies, the friends who kept me around to feel better about themselves, and the overall society that inundates us from birth with the message that certain folks are more deserving and valuable based on their bodies, complexion, race, gender expression, physical and mental capabilities, educational levels, and whatever other fuck shit is just arbitrarily made up and pushed into our minds and down our throats.
— You Are Your Best Thing by Tarana Burke, Brené Brown (Page 29)
Content warning Direct quote
“Suddenly I realized that happiness did have to be aspirational, that every good thing in this world that was denied to me and them because of some arbitrary bullshit ideology that we had no say in was inherently ours to claim, and I said that shit too. I said it loudly, sweetly, and abrasively. I was insistent, maybe even dogged, but I didn’t care. I was giddy. This shit felt good, and I felt more free than I ever had in my life.” (Tanya Denise Fields, p. 28)
Content warning Direct quote, Black joy
“But our community has learned that even the darkest depths of human evil cannot snuff out our experience of joy—of laughter and love, of good food and good conversation, of family legacy and hope for the future, of creative endeavor and the pursuit of justice. The joy of Blackness persists. Our joy is in having loved and been loved well. Our joy is in the ties that bind us to one another. Our joy is in the legacy of all that our ancestors have done for us. Our joy is in being able to participate in that legacy now. Our joy is in the taste of freedom, regardless of whether we got only a morsel or the whole pie. Our joy is in a shared language, a shared dance, a shared game, a shared song. Our joy is in having left a mark in the world, being able to say, I was here. And none of these things can be placed in a box and buried in the ground. They are resilient in that they are everlasting, surviving long after the pain of tragedy has waned.” (pp. 18-19)
Content warning Thoughts on introduction and first chapter
So I just read the introduction and the first chapter (by Jason Reynolds), and WOW! The intro is structured as a conversation between the editors Tarana Burke and Brené Brown. It is full of absolute gem quotes like "I don't believe your antiracist work is complete or valid or useful if you haven't engaged with Black humanity", as well as an explicit mention that this book is meant for Black folks to understand their own experiences of shame, vulnerability, and resistance. This is new for me, as a lot of the antiracist reading that I do is focused on challenging white dominance instead of our humanity as Black people. I'm excited to continue reading, but I can already tell that this book is really going to resonate with me.
I saw this book at Venus Envy in Kjipuktuk and knew that I would have to pick it up! I've been looking for a book on this topic for a while now, so I really hope that it meets or surpasses my expectations.
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