July has arrived! July is often associated with summer vacations, barbecues, & fireworks. How the heck do we use this as a time to focus on personal growth & optimization. There was a time families would gather to celebrate the great mother Auset. Auset was a powerful archetype of motherhood, magic, & healing. She was known for her ability to bring life & renewal & was honored during the time as the principle force behind the flooding that aided agriculture & ensured a year of bounty for all. For her children here in America, applying some focus on the magic of motherhood & the importance of nurturing ourselves & those around us. If you are unfamiliar with the story of Auset please research online (there is a video on InnerElevation9 Youtube channel). You are in for a treat & a beautiful image of the essence of melanated people.
In addition to its ancient significance, July 4th is known as Independence Day, a time when we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence & the birth of our nation. However, for African Americans, July 4th represents a more complicated history, as the document's promises of freedom & equality were not extended to enslaved people. I often call this Indifference Day. Like many things in “history”, the facts of the motives & sequence of events betray the common understanding. Without going into those discrepancies, lets use the events of another day of similar quality as an alternative reference. June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, is not a day I went over in June. The lore around the day insights mix feelings. For us, as particular perspective is of interest. Long after this “Independence Day” was established, many melanated communities were still captured & ruled by “Americans”. Even after the Declaration of Independence, low-melanin communities held Africans & Natives as captives, inappropriately called slaves. This Juneteenth marks an amazing moment, when those who were free, YET DID NOT KNOW THEY WERE FREE, received the good news, the true gospel. It is a telling moment for the motivation of melanated people. Telling of the motives of low-melanated people. To them who have ears to hear.
July also marks the anniversary of several significant events in the civil rights movement, such as the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 & the Voting Rights Act in 1965. These events intended to pave the way for greater freedom & equality for African Americans, & serve as a reminder of the ongoing fight for justice & equality. Though co-opted by other groups, it still stands as a testimony of the power of communal action.
This is normally where the practical lessons gleaned from these context are laid out in a few bullet points. Given the weight the details above carry & the tendency in the modern world to brush things aside, often as if we got it. The evidence says we don’t. My encouragement is that we think, really think, about where we have been & where we desire to go. Let us conclude this one this way: a few years ago a man was murdered by a police officer & it sparked a massive social uproar, one which the current president of the United States used as a major part of his platform bid for the presidency. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 was mentioned in over 60% of Biden’s public appearances & here, 200 more deaths of the same kinds later, & that bill has not passed. Think.
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