I love being Black. It has taken me a long time to love my Black self in a world that tells me at almost every turn that I shouldn’t, that there is something wrong with me, that I should know my place. Well, I do know my place. I know that as Black people we know something about love that not many people do.
I had two different conversations today and I brought up a quote that has been credited to Albert Einstein, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” I was talking to two different Black people and they both were speaking about doubting themselves. I reminded them that in this Eurocentric world that holds what is right, real, and true as White and male, we as Black people have been like the fish that has been ask to climb the tree. And then I reminded them that we have been climbing the hell out of that damn tree!
What couldn’t we do if we just swam in our own waters, if we lived by our own ideas of what is right, real, and true? What if we let ourselves be the Black fish that we are? These questions resonate with me. It reminds me of Nzuzu. Nzuzu, is said to be a Black Mermaid. I won’t go into the whole story of Nzuzu here but I will say that her story is one of transformation and healing. I think transformation and healing is all about letting a fish be a fish.
Quanita