This Mother’s Day I give thanks to My Mother for her Love
and Support on my Journey into Motherhood.
My Mother is a Rebel. Prime Proper Rebel.
My journey into motherhood did not follow the respected path
of marriage then motherhood.
Yet my mother pushed past that and still saw the sacredness
and divinity in the continuity of the family.
Under her roof she gave me the freedom to heed the call of
our Ancestors to a truth that had been beaten out of us. Shamed out of us.
My becoming a mother 26 years ago sent me on a journey past
the lies of the slave masters passed down generation after generation. A journey to my Ancestors my African
foundation.
A journey I began as a child even though I didn’t know at
the time.
This Mother’s Day I Celebrate my Mommy for giving me the
Freedom to explore and find the path of our Ancestors while living under her
roof.
She supported my decision to raise my child with only books
of African, African-American, Native American, and Caribbean stories.
When I tried conventional religion, and it didn’t work she
supported my decision to continue my search.
Our Ancestors led to me to my Godmother, Bernice Ballew who
I also show Honor and Respect this Mother’s Day. Her patience and determination opened me to
what I was searching for my whole life. My Ancestors, the Orishas an ancient Spiritual
Truth we were separated from during slavery.
My Mommy gave me the freedom to embrace this while living under her
roof.
She embraced the Ancestor Altar that remains to this day in
our Living Room.
It is difficult living in a Western society that demonizes anything
African. That beat the African out of
us. That has brainwashed us to believe
that the standard of excellence, beauty, intelligence, and God is European.
Under her roof, My Mommy allowed me to battle and challenge
that lie.
I give thanks to Ancestors for my Mommy. I give thanks to the Orishas Yemaya and Oshun
for their blessings seen and unseen. I
give thanks for my Ancestral Grandmothers, Aunties, and Cousins who endured the
brutality of the European conqueror yet kept that spark of Africa and passed it
on to me.
The journey back is not easy because the brainwashing,
programming and lies continue.
Yet my Mommy Blessed me to walk that path under her
roof. For that I am eternally grateful
and because of her our family is Blessed to reconnect in spite of the lies and propaganda
of the conqueror.
Because of my Mommy our family started the journey home to
our African selves.