Editor’s Take
BY NJEMILE Z. ALI
Legacy: The Return of Divine Awareness
As we continue through this winter’s record-breaking cold weather, consciousness germinates beneath the surface. We are defining ourselves, our past and the age in which we live. This is the Age of the Return, when we gather the gifts from the past to fuel the next breakthrough to our highest Selves. Our writers are moving soil in the deep.
Storyteller and radio host Nashid Furaha-Ali brings forth the voices of the Ancestors, reminding us of our most precious asset: our creativity. He explains how “Protecting Our Ancestors’ Creative Legacy” is sacred work.
Poet Sean Beatty brings us three powerful, thought-provoking pieces. From breaking conscious ground in “un/locking” to sharing the magic of his grandmother in “Specter” and declaring the requirement for repetition in “The Revolution,” Sean reminds us to build and build and build and build again, wherever we are.
The encore presentation of Dr. Geneva Smitherman’s “Black English/Ebonics: What It Be Like?” is essential reading for those of us looking to reclaim our own Selves. She offers us our own linguistic legacy, inviting us to—as we wrote previously—”embrace the rhythms, flow and go of how we talk, which reflects who we be and how we be.”
Dr. Kathleen Johnson Prillerman lets us know that knowing ain’t new for us. Her poem, “Africans Knew” celebrates our hidden legacy of global exploration.
Story gatherer Dr. Pam C. Delaine brings us a few of the memoirs that she harvested from Greene, Pickens and Sumter Counties in West Alabama. Alabama’s Blackbelt refers to rich black soil and a wealth of Black histories. Dr. Delaine’s book, Stories from the Blackbelt, celebrates the real voices of real people.
Zakiyyah Ali Treasures of the African Diaspora are revealed again from the pen of nature enthusiast
In “Ms. Ola: The Story of a Silent Generationer,” Verginia Jackson helps us see clearly the nonstop determination of a dedicated Black mother whose talents refused to be suppressed..
By way of fiction and nonfiction, Otancia Noel immerses us in the musical language and exquisite landscapes of Trinidad and Tobago. “The Beggar and the King” (fiction) is a lyrical cautionary tale, reminding us that fortunes can change in an instant. In an excerpt from “Life as a Teen: The Legacy of the Compound,” Otancia reflects on her younger years in a Muslim community. Sometimes the best intentions do not produce the desired result.
Snuggle up a bit more in this extra cold winter. Let your inner seeds germinate and your roots reach down and out for deep nourishment. Be ready to wow yourself in the spring, when your new greenery pushes up through the land, and you see others around you blossoming as well.