Our names are Nisaa Kirtman and Ayesha Boyce. In our prior post from yesterday, and today, we continue to reflect on the importance of generational wisdom.
We all need a witness to our stories, as validation and evidence
Stories carry significant meaning in all cultures and ethnicities. We bask in stories and shared lived experiences as evidence of who we are in this country and in attempt to find our own voice. To fully appreciate the significance of storytelling as a cultural “data point” in our work, we also must learn from slavery – not only was reading, writing, and education forbidden in practice, policy and laws, it could have been the end of our lives. Stories were the only ways we as a people could bear witness to our experiences. We didn’t write our stories – we spoke them and shared them through, song, dance, food, art. I remember hearing stories from my father, who had roots in Louisiana and Texas, about his upbringing, my grandparents, his past profession in sports, his faith, and even hearing stories from my mother today about life before and after my dad. Something as simple as going to the store or to an appointment was never just about that. There was always something about past experiences, the climate, the company of other Black people, the related pains, sprinkled in with music and food. I remember sitting with my father, hearing him talk about life in Gray, Louisiana, his family’s migration to San Francisco in search of a better life, playing college football during the civil rights era, converting to Islam in 1949, and the struggles of being the only Muslim in a family of southern Baptists. Listening to his commanding voice and stories made me sad – I didn’t want to forget or lose his experience. Yet, I was his witness – my father was the Grio. I validated his experiences and found the courage to share his stories with my children as evidence of our culture and who we are. His stories sounded so beautiful, comforting, and familiar.
I’ve spoken with community members about what generational racism and stress does to our mental and physical health as a people, how the tears of Black folks don’t matter as much – these narratives were not written down for me, nor can they ever be quantified or scaled. They were spoken and yet provide the most compelling evidence of the human experience that cannot be discounted, forgotten, or deemed as invalid. As researchers or educators, how can we keep the wisdom of those before us, who sacrificed, prayed for us, paved the way, who protested White supremacist systems from the end of reconstruction, to Jim Crow, and continue this fight with the wealth of knowledge from our elders and our ancestors on our shoulders?
As we reflect on lessons learned from two men who have recently passed, but whose legacy lives on within so many, we lean heavily on the importance of oral history and storytelling. Recently, our peers Vidhya Shanker introduced “The Power of Perspective,” and Monique Liston’s project about storytelling and Afrofuturism. As we go onto the next millennium, we must remember that we did not get here on our own. We grieve lost moments for storytelling, oral history, narrative, and connection that have a direct impact on our own self-worth, our children’s self-worth, and our ability to be present in moments every day. For many, death makes us think not only of the loss of individuals, but the loss of generations, the loss of legacies, and the loss of wisdom especially those culturally and intellectually consequential.
Rad Resources:
- A Joint Statement of Gratitude in Honor of Stafford L. Hood, Ph.D.
- Reflecting on the impact of Dr. Hood’s mentorship
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