Posted by tamorragoldsboro@gmail.com on July 7, 2021July 7, 2021

I want to talk about how we, as African American people, can start caring for our souls aka "Love Your Heart."

Caring for the African American Soul:

I feel inspired to finish and edit the following article due to a soul filling conversation that I had with my friend this morning. We talked about protecting our gifts and not letting selfish people use us until we are all used up. It was a message that hit home, especially as a mother and an educator who cares for her children. I care about the way young minds perceive themselves in this American Culture. I care about them understanding their value. I am full right now and feel it very important to share the importance of caring for your soul. It is important to no longer feel ashamed about the way God made us.

It is important to understand that there is strength in being proud of who you are and where you come from. There is power in loving yourself. When you love yourself, you don’t let people take advantage of your gifts, your talents, or your love. I think that it is important for us, as African American people, to start loving ourselves so that we can properly show our children how to love themselves.

Kirkland (2021) poses this following question:

“How do we move not only against those forces that dehumanize Black people from the outside, but also against those oppressive structures that Black people have been forced to internalize, that we have been forced to take into ourselves, both implicitly or explicitly?”

Reviewing the condition of the African American soul in our America:

I am continuing my study on the soul this month and I think that Kirkland’s question is a soul question. I seek spiritual guidance from my divine father to learn my part in addressing the proper way to nourish the soul. I am an African American woman. I count my heritage as a necessary factor in addressing the lack of nourishment available for the African American soul in this country. I also would like to point out that the soul is a reflection of the condition of the mind. In order to review the condition of the African American soul in America, we have to look at the things that attack the mind.

The dynamic of the African American mind in a country of systemic oppression is often on defense. The mind that encounters microaggression after microaggression has built up defense mechanisms to protect itself from the hatred that is poured upon its subconscious, as well as in its conscious world, daily. Microaggressions, however, are like cotton candy treats when we consider the blatant racism that minorities experience while conducting themselves in the American Culture. The American culture is written, sustained, and promoted by an elite who love their position at the top. Why would this elite ever give other people the opportunity to love themselves? It is time for people to wake up and look for ways to feed their own souls through self-appreciation, self-acceptance, and self-love.

I approach this subject from the perspective of a teacher who taught in the American Public Education System:

I started my doctoral research to find out what was wrong with public education. It turns out that I am not the only African American Woman with a spirit of nurture who cares enough to research this subject. Gloria Ladson-Billings (Culturally Relevant Pedagogy) and Geneva Gay (Culturally Responsive teaching) has addressed the inequities of properly supporting the culturally perspectives of African American Children in the American public School system. Conclusively, all families do not value the competitive nature of capitalism, and may not respond to the structure that these systems set up as standard. Hence, I call for a new focus on caring for our children’s souls for the continued existence of our mind health. We have to change how things are going. We have to teach our children how to love themselves.

“Only a Fool would let his enemy teach their children.”

-Malcolm X

The African American child’s soul is learning how to survive in the American School System. The mind is learning how not to be noticed in fear of ridicule or receiving looks of absurdity. These looks are only given due to the different presentations of the mind; presentations that are often mis-understood by mainstream European- whiteness. Expressions of intelligence should not be measured by academic standards set by academic mindsets who control cultural narratives. The African American child isn’t anymore right or wrong in his or her process of configuring truth, but the African American child is scrutinized for his perspective on curriculum, content, and deliverables. The obvious differences in cultural relevance are rarely addressed in the American School System. Curriculums do not always compliment what is being taught in the home which leaves some “advantaged” and others “disadvantaged.”

Information that is commonly reviewed in a person’s life becomes that person’s reality. Unfortunately, in America, it is too often reviewed in the African American mind that we are not wanted, that we are unloved, and that we do not belong. How unfortunate this is for the soul. This needs to change.

I write and I research to understand the functioning of the racist dynamic and the part that public education plays in creating such dichotomies. I encourage you to think about what it will take to appreciate your life, your children’s lives, and the lives of others. What does it look like if you took the time to care for your soul? What would this world look like if people of color would love themselves?

I observe the condition of the soul as a life-long learner:

I welcome questions that are posed for the betterment of my mindset and for the strength of my character. While reviewing the Kirkland article in the Journal of Equity and Excellence in Education, I began to meditate on his question:

"How do we move not only against those forces that dehumanize Black people from the outside, but also against those oppressive structures that Black people have been forced to internalize, that we have been forced to take into ourselves, both implicitly or explicitly?'

I think we have to keep growing in love:

My consensus is that we have failed to understand the strength of loving ourselves. We have failed to realize that the first step to loving ourselves is to forgive ourselves. We must be on a life long mission to find out where we are hurting and how we can forgive our failures. Forgiveness brings healing and healing brings restoration of the mind. When our minds are restored, our souls will be restored.

We have to Love Our Hearts, this is the prize!

Kirkland shares the following passage from Toni Morrison’s “Queen,” which I thought was very powerful in claiming the importance of self love. I would like to share it and end with the thought of self love. I don’t present the passage as some type of war cry or a disrespect of anyone else's culture. Instead, I posit that you must learn to love yourself in order not to be against yourself. We, as African American people must learn to love all of our intricate soul parts, even the ones that do not fit into mainstream culture, because these parts will help feed the soul of the world.

“In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don’t love your eyes; they’d just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face ‘cause they don’t love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain’t in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don’t love your mouth. You got to love it. This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I’m telling you. And O my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up. And all your inside parts that they’d just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver—love it, love it and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet. More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.”

**―Baby Suggs, from Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1988)**

Kirkland, D. E. (2021). A Pedagogy for Black People: Why Naming Race Matters. Equity & Excellence in Education, 54(1), 60–67. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/10665684.2020.1867018

I continue to promote and encourage people to seek after the Lord for encouragement, hope, motivation, and food for your soul. He said that if you really do thirst or if we are too heavy with the burdens of this world, then we can turn to him. Let us turn to him so that he can restore our souls.