I recently had the opportunity to take over the IG feed for The Woo Shop! Incase you haven't see those posts here's part 3 of 3: A Little Bit About Action!
(The shirt says "we have the power to cocreate the world we dream")
Thamo here again! With everything going on, seemingly the most in the media is the U.S., we’re being called to action.
Typically I don’t consider myself an “activitist”. I don’t often get up on my soap box because I like to argue and I know I’d be too easily drawn into some angry, rage-filled places lol (seriously… ask my husband :D)
But this last wave of murders and protests and stories shared about racism and injustice have got me fired up.
Fired up becuase it hurts my heart that one human could kill another human for something they cannot even control. For something they didn’t choose (at least not on a human experience level).
Fired up because as a Canadian Black Womxn I feel I benefit from a lot of privileges that I might not if I moved south of the border.
Fired up becuase my children, being a quarter black, will benefit even more from these privileges. And they will have the privilege that I didn’t of being able to hide their blackness if they feel they need to. This revelation hurt my heart the most. That there might come a time when my children feel they need to actively hide their ethnicity to fit in, or worse yet to survive.
I want them to be proud of who they are and not fear violence or discrimination because of it. And even more I want them to understand that their privilege isn’t shared by everyone so they have a responsibility to stand up to their peers when someone tells a racist joke on the playground or uses a racial slur in the hallway. How do I teach them all of this without destroying their innocent view of the world?
I start by stepping up more.
I start by embodying the pride that I want them to have in their lineage.
A while ago, while engaging in my fav not-so-guilty pleasure of reality tv, I heard two womxn make an alliance and in the process they talked about their “Black Girl Magic”. I had never heard this before but man did it stick! I don’t know exactly why but it really lit me up to embrace the idea that I have a particular brand of magic that is unique and special to me and other womxn who look like me.
I’ve also recently been thinking about the power of makers. Makers of art and craft, regardless of the style or medium, have the power to bring ideas to the world in way that can be easier to digest for some. We have the ability to create and plant ideas like seeds that will grow and evolve in your mind until they’re ready to bloom into beautiful flowers of change!
So rather than stand up on my proverbial soap box, screaming and crying into the void, I figured it would be more useful to share my art and my craft by speaking on the topics that I live: Blackness, Womxness, and Makerness in Canada…
Because being a Black Womxn Maker is my Black Womxn Magic! #bwmisbwm
So I’ll be blogging about all of this on my website (link in my profile) and while I’m at it I’ll be inviting other Canadian Black Womxn Makers to share their thoughts and experiences also.
Know anyone who would be great to feature on the blog? Send them my way!!