Dearest African-heritage Co-Counselors,


I greet you with love and in peace, praying our ancestors continue to preserve and protect us. I had the privilege to be on a BLCD (Black Liberation and Community Development) call led by our International Liberation Reference Person, Barbara Love, and I thought I would share the effect of her direction on my perspective. 


The stay-at-home measure for COVID-19 has given me an opportunity to discharge fear and confusion. The BLCD call, which came a couple weeks after the measure, and doing some discharging, gave me a new perspective. 


The perspective was that the effect of Ka’rona [COVID-19] gives us an opportunity to emerge new and fresh and fair and connected and just. We get to shape the world the way we want to, far away from the oppression that is now considered normal. We get to remember that dreaming this and doing this is not absurd. 


Barbara cited the absurdity of a Walmart ad: A millionaire praises workers that he doesn’t give benefits to for their heroism. Absurd for me is the U.S. reoccupation of a base in Trinidad for which it has a hundred-year lease (yeah, one hundred years). Why? To station itself as it prepares to fight Venezuelans for Venezuelan resources. Absurd. Vicious. Deadly. 


Barbara’s direction is to keep creating our vision of the world we want. I know I have to do this, and I need to, in order to remember my power, my zest, my connection and goodness. Thank you, Barbara, for the rational perspective and direction—to discharge whatever is necessary for us to recognise our vision and to decide, act, and discharge our way together to the other side, far away from “normal” and closer to light.