Per our academic Calendar, in my home, we celebrate Soujourner Truth Day on June 1st. This is the day Soujourner Truth changed her name from her slave name to Soujourner Truth. A fitting name for a prophet, I think. Soujourner Truth is one the of few black leaders we get to learn a little about in history books due to her aid in the Women's Civil Rights Movement. You only have the privilege of learning about our great black leaders in public school, if they were able to benefit European American advancement in some way. Its important for our children and those who still think like children to know this. Soujourner Truth wasn't just a key element in the Women's Rights Movement, but she also was very significant in the Civil War. This great woman helped to recruit black troops to the union army. Yes, we were used in that Army for one white man's gain against another because many of us still believed in the decency of mankind. It was easy to do, I'm sure, if you believed they were helping to fight for you freedom simply due to it being inhumane. However, if those who were in and established the union Army could find more benefit in Slavery, it would not have been abolished. It's very important to understand the nature of people and to learn from the triumphs and mistakes of our ancestors.
My favorite thing to highlight about Soujourner Truth, is that she is the first Black Woman to Win a court case against a White Man. What is sad is that she ever had to go to court in the first place to claim her own child from a slave owner. I think Soujourner Truth is a great historical representative for us all to study and teach our children about. Her triumphs as well as her mistakes.
Something that has brought to my attention by way of a dream is that black women have a unique ability to be oblivious to danger. I think we, more than anyone, want to believe strongly in the good nature of mankind because all of mankind and humanity can be traced back to the original Black woman. We must see and accept people for who they are and not who we want them to be. We want to avoid hard truths. We don't want to hear about how Sojourner Truth was molested, raped, her children taken from her and sold off. How she was not allowed to marry the man she loved because it was not profitable for her owner. How her children belonged to someone else and there wasn't anything she could do to protect them. We must began to examine the actions and interpret the intentions of individuals who may hide and harbor love for immorality. Nothing puts our children in more danger than our inability to see and act in face of danger. Many of us fight against our nature to not trust certain people thinking that we are designed wrong. Your enemies teach you and preach impartiality to keep you weak and oppressed.
A woman in a room full of men should feel uncomfortable, naturally, because there is a degree of danger there. Black women should perceive danger when white men approach and there is not a black man around to protect her. Even when not in direct danger, danger is present. I'm not saying this as a means of saying that we should be walking around in fear. I'm saying this because too many of us are walking around oblivious and putting ourselves, our children, and each other in danger. Know without a shadow of a doubt who your friends are and even if you have no friends at all, where your allegiances should lie for your own safety and prolonged wellbeing physically, mentally, socially, economically, and spiritually.
