Today is International Remembrance Day of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 2019 represents the 400 year mark of the documented first enslaved Africans to reach the shores of America.

Let’s dedicate a moment of silence for the documented and undocumented, please.
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Selah.

Now what?  I don’t say this in disrespect of/to those being remembered.  Quite the opposite!
I actually say it with passion, mixed with a bit of anger and doses of sadness.  Why?

PASSION: What hails at the bottom of the deep blue sea?  It’s definitely not what is being depicted within the image at the top of this post.  Yes, this is what we see often when we think of the slave trade.  But what encompasses our oceans are the souls of family units. Family units are purposes knitted together to create a whole.  Fathers who lead, mothers who nurture, children who imagine, leaders who empower, craftsmen who originate – together they create, grow, and influence.  This ignites me because what once was can be again.  What once was the core of my forefathers can be the link of my own giftedness to that of others…NOW WHAT?

ANGER: Each February, classrooms, politicians, and others draw attention – yet again – to the select chosen who sacrificed for change, focusing on their struggle, their overcoming, their eventual approval within society.  Wait?
What about who they were before they started this journey?  Were they not already approved, chosen, gifted, beautiful, dignified, and intelligent?  Their heritage was what was longed for to be duplicated, correct? What was once in abundance, enjoyed, respected, and valued was/has been de-valued long enough to be re-valued and re-distributed at a de-value.  NOW WHAT?

SADNESS: What of this original beautiful heritage is being taught and re-told often enough to re-ignite the connection to the deep blue sea? Devalued souls, searching for purpose filtrate our communities and generations, casting themselves into the deep.  NOW WHAT?

NOW WHAT?
WE teach.  WE connect.  WE build.  WE grow.  AND REPEAT AND REPEAT AND REPEAT.

HOW?
WE feed our communities periodicals, visuals, and sounds that reflect the originality, tenacity, confidence, boldness, and beauty of those who started it all.  <<Click here for one way you may start>>

WE support others starting their realization journey and we submit to the wisdom of those who are further along the journey than us to help us achieve our goals.
<<Click here for an example of such network>>

WE give back…always…By solely reaching forward, we uproot ourselves and kill our own seed, to be remembered no more. (now, this is a tweetable!)
<<Click here to support the Arete Academy Foundation and let’s nurture the whole child>>

Today, may you not only REMEMBER the depths of our deep blue sea but be vehement TO BE the tree that is indeed the true product of their seeds.

NOW – WHAT are you going to do?

Let’s continue to invest in our children as whole beings – fueling their mind, body, and spirit.
Let’s do this!

Chat soon,

~Miss. Tamika

P.S.  Check out these resources to help you along your journey:

BEFORE I GO…

– Check out our ARETEnrichment Studio!  Click here to explore our Studio of goodies.  Join our e-list to stay abreast of the release of new resources and more.

– Have you signed up for our monthly Excellence RULES Enrichment Packs?  These packs are the perfect option to help solidify your child’s in-class learning in a creative way.  Click here to register for next month’s pack.

– Stay tuned for more valuable posts to help make this year a success for you and your child…<<<catch up on prior posts here>>>

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