Editor’s Take

BY NJEMILE Z. ALI

K6.6

Walking Backwards in Time

Thank you for strolling through Social Roles with KIZA these past few weeks. I’ve enjoyed the experience and I look forward to what will emerge from the darkness running all through everything and constantly creating. Where will KIZA go next? I’d better spend a few minutes condensing some wonderful times for us—our readers, our staff and our Beloved Community.

I thought it would be interesting to present the culminating issue of KIZA’s Spring Mini Series in reverse order. Reading through my earlier entries most certainly felt like walking backwards in time. The sensation of moving both backward and forward at the same time describes the state that I’m told our Ancestors used to abide—a vivid experience of the present, while being in palpable touch with the vibrations of the past. And what of the future? Can I condense a future from my thoughts, quite deliberately? I think I can! I think I can! I’m the little spirit that could.

Please enjoy the fantastic installations from our writers and speakers. Be sure to pause at the worded energies of our Cover Couple. With the Ancients covering our travel, the literatists (I just made that up) take us on a walk through time and space, gathering thoughts, taking time, sitting with moments, gaining perspective, taking on and letting go. As it turned out, the Spring Mini Series caught a wave of self-identified feminine expression.

I’m looking forward to a corresponding wave of self-identified masculine expression. Should I share the reins of KIZA with a male editor to bring that issue into being? If that’s you, give me a call at 229.329.2717.

Enjoy. Keep your balance.

K6.5

Social Roles Future, Past & Now

In the excerpt from her novel Inflicted, Stephanie Teasley quickly warps time into sharp relief. From gentle sisterly moments, we are catapulted into a present moment that simply must be handled. Stephanie’s toying with time is echoed in columnist Khadija Pounsel’s reflections on Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Both Stephanie and Khadija expand our consciousness of how we accept the social roles that are thrust upon us throughout time.

From Week 1 to Week 5 of KIZA’s Spring Mini Series, our writers have taken us through the forces that shape social worlds and set the stage for the interactions that define individuals and communities. They carry precious cargo in their vehicles: childhood, love and relations lost and found—the true treasures of life.

Next week concludes the series with all of the selections in one place, so you can browse through, recall and consider. We' have enjoyed bringing you this discussion of Social Roles in a way that keeps the conversation going, while allowing space to absorb the insights and perhaps write your own. Share your thoughts. Submit your lit to KIZA.

K6.4

The Role of Community

Fiction writer Kyomi Johnson and columnist Eryka Parker break the sound barrier, refusing to be silent in the face of personal, social and political abuse. “The Final Loss of Innocence” invites us to consider the role of community in shielding our children from wayward “protectors.” How do we make our homes and communities safe places for children to achieve their fullest expression?

Social commentator Minnie Monroe calls us to attention with the example of a beloved community in which neighbors know and interact with each other in a spirit of open sharing. May we add a deep and wide layer of support for justice within the community, in our treatment of one another and calling one another to account as required. The practice of community accountability will fortfy us against the outside forces that we know will persist.

Every week during this month of May 2025, our writers travel through the forces that shape social worlds and set the stage for the interactions that define individuals and communities. They carry precious cargo in their vehicles: childhood, love and relations lost and found—the true treasures of life.

K6.3

What Inspires the Social Roles We Take?

L. Ann Lewis grasped the threads of hate that were meant to ensnare her childhood dreams and wove them into a tapestry of enduring community connections. She courageously transformed pain into purpose, putting to work her inborn sense of justice. L. Ann’s true story, “The Evolution of My Revolution,” takes us inside her experience, helping us feel through the innocent heart of a child and see opportunities for change through the eyes of her adult self. Her writing shows us that inspiration can come from unexpected places.

Columnist Zakiyyah Ali continues her telling of the lives of the only documented female Buffalo Soldier and the historian who embodies Cathay Williams’ life in the present. The story of Dr. Daisy Century parallels the lives of the women in history that she portrays in her character embodiments. Dr. Century takes available materials and forms them into living lessons for audiences around the country. Inspiration moves her to bring history alive, demonstrating how Black women in history have pushed the boundaries of their prescribed social roles.

Capucine Peterson inspired a new KIZA column, entitled “Deep Wisdom.” Her clear and unwavering statement of purpose is motivation for us all. Check it out.

KIZA’s writers and speakers continue our look at the social roles that we play, individually and collectively. What sort of molecular bonds do we create to form societies? What are the elements? The compounds? The structures that reflect Earth’s soil, mountains, trees and rivers? What roles do we play in our social Universes? How do we treat our fellow creations? How are we treated?

Every week during this month of May 2025, our writers travel through the forces that shape social worlds and set the stage for the interactions that define individuals and communities. They carry precious cargo in their vehicles: childhood, love and relations lost and found—the true treasures of life.

K6.2

A Mother’s Day Gift from My Daughter

Nine years ago, my amazing daughter, Tannur Shewrightz Ali, gifted me the loveliest poem. A few days ago, I remembered it as a gift to share with our readers this Mother’s Day weekend. The poem is a beautiful appreciation of the bond between us, and the bond that Black communities around the world value so much and hold so dear. Thank you, Tannur.

I must also shout out to the mothers and daughters and sons whose experience of motherhood was and is not so idyllic. Mothering and motherhood are not always the walk through the park that we would like. Mothers work to be all that we hold dear, yet often feel that we do not measure up. In truth, sometimes we don’t measure up. I most definitely feel that Tannur’s poem is aspirational for me. Some day I hope to wake up and be that Queen for real.

Many mothers are still babies hoping to be fed, burped, changed and embraced. The results of this lack of nurturing can look a lot of different ways. Even in the presence of warmth and nurturing, vestiges of a lack of self-knowing and self-esteem enter in unexpected ways. Let’s embrace our sister mothers, think well of them and envision our village whole, intact, and deeply caring for one another. A gift we can share.

K6.1

Social Roles:

Navigating the Universe of Relationships

Two writers grace our pages this week. Otancia Kai Noel hails from Trinidad and Tobago. On the rhythms of the Trinidadian creole dialect, she takes us inside a Muslim compound where the proper places of women and men, husbands and wives and the children they bear are clearly set and often breached. What happens when a new young wife seeks control of the household at the expense of everyone else? Read on. You will soon come to know. “Bamba See Am Look Thing.”

Zakiyyah Ali brings us more Treasures from the African Diaspora.

We explored intimacy in last quarter’s issue of KIZA, discovering that the Universe itself is up-close and personal at all times. The stuff of creation dances with itself, as it takes on the many levels of form and substance. The societies we create—local universes—contain a diversity of those forms. Much of the time, we are so immersed in our societies we can barely see outside of them to embrace the essential trivia of life: molecular darkness, constant forces and incessant creation.

What sort of molecular bonds do we create to form societies? What are the elements? The compounds? The structures that reflect Earth’s soil, mountains, trees and rivers? What roles do we play in our social Universes? How do we treat our fellow creations? How are we treated?

Every week during this month of May 2025, our writers travel through the forces that shape social worlds and set the stage for the interactions that define individuals and communities. They carry precious cargo in their vehicles: childhood, love and relations lost and found—the true treasures of life.