When I was eleven years old, I recall for the first time feeling like this was my world, too, and that I should have just as much say in how it operates as anyone else. I don’t recall the exact event that inspired the thought, but my mother validated my declaration and actually empowered me to do some things. I was fearless, creative, a bit reckless, and certainly naive. What I didn’t understand at the time was that empowerment needed to be accompanied by enablement. Having the authority (empowerment) to do something and possessing the means (enablement) to do it are two separate things. I am eternally grateful to my mother for encouraging my sense of empowerment by putting forth resources (time and money) to enable me to follow through on many of my youthful exploits.
I took that new sense of empowerment and proclaimed that I should be able to decorate my own bedroom. My mother’s response was not only agreement, but shopping trips with her wallet wide open. I was into blue in those days and so I painted my walls a sky blue. I wanted an additional twin bed for a friend or cousin who might sleep over and she purchased it. I selected fabric for my curtains and two royal blue velvet bedspreads with matching headboards I fell in love with. She purchased them all. I selected and she paid for the new lamps, shelves, throw rugs, and pillows. I painted the walls, installed the shelves, sewed the curtains and put them up all by myself. l loved the finished product. But most importantly, by creating my own space as an eleven year old girl, I felt powerful and in control of my environment for the first time. My self-esteem and confidence blossomed to the extent that I dreamed up and took on other projects that at first only impacted my life and later those in the community.
The mindset that this is my world, too, has never left me and I’ve spent my life trying to encourage my children and my students to believe that they have the power and responsibility to influence and help shape the world for good. For women and people of color, this is a relatively new concept. Oppression is forced impotence in the minds of people through violence. For much of U.S. history, blacks and other people of color were made powerless through laws and violence. In the 1950’s it took the joint efforts of oppressed people and their allies to change the laws. As the late John Lewis said, they decided to get into “good trouble” by using what they had, their bodies. Perhaps my mother’s lesson to me about empowerment came from the Civil Rights Movement we were living through. Empowerment has to be accompanied by enablement. And the Civil Rights leaders were enabled by their bodies, their numbers, their pain, and their strong passion for right. They used the tools of their voice, their numbers, their organizing, and their courage. A person can only do what is in his or her heart and mind to do if he or she is able. Given the right resources and tools, we can be a force for change if we want it. Right now, I have turned my sights on changing the political leadership in our nation.
I’m a patriot and this is my nation, too, so I’m determined to use every tool and resource I have to help oust Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and to help elect Joe Biden. I am forever grateful to the Civil Rights warriors for my expanded tool box so that today my power and capability can be fearlessly directed in my blog and social media postings. I can use my pocketbook to donate to the campaigns of Biden and McGrath (McConnell’s opponent). I will use my “blood-purchased” vote to help select Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this November. I’m thankful for others who continue to take to the streets, phones, use their art, music, athletic platform, and speeches to combat the white supremacy that seeks to maintain the remaining bastions of oppression.
As Americans we are empowered and enabled by our Constitution to protest, to express ourselves, and to vote. We have the power and the ability to design or redesign the destiny of this nation. Others made the ultimate sacrifice to not only empower but to enable us to make changes for the greater good. Let’s take our power and use our tools and resources to do what is good, right, and just in November. If nothing else, we have the power and the ability to vote. And for many of us, that was not always the case.