My heart hurts. George Floyd. Amy Cooper. Ahmaud Arbery. Atatiana Jefferson. Botham Jean. So many others.
These are just a faint scratch on the injustice of racism in America. A land supposed to be a land of the brave and the free.
“The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” Frederick Douglass
I have words, but honestly, the words we need to hear and the voices we need to hear are not mine.
I believe that we all need beauty, a place to land for a bit of calm, serenity, a place to breathe.
Here are photographs I’ve taken recently with quotations by African Americans.
Let us listen and breathe.
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth on them.” Ida B. Wells“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama“”Dreams are lovely but they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” Shonda Rhimes“Make a difference about something other than yourselves.” Toni Morrison“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” Maya Angelou“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” Dr. Mae Jemison“Creativity is seeing what everyone else sees, but then thinking a new thought that has never been thought before and expressing it somehow.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson“Have a vision. Be demanding.” Colin Powell“Just don’t give up what you’re trying to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” Ella Fitzgerald“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes“When I look at the future, it’s so bright it burns my eyes.” Oprah Winfrey
