Radical Self-Love

Radical Self-Love (before, during, and after):

Much of Citizen University was packed with heady conversations that seemed more like the elephant in the room than a call to arms to make change. Over the course of a day and a half, we tried to come together to begin dismantling these conversations/ concepts/ and social contracts so that the individual can find some corner of the process to take ownership of.

How are you going to be an agent of change? When are you going to take a stand against injustice? How should you use your privilege to raise the voices of those less fortunate than you?

And then the notion of radical self-love was dropped in the conversation like an un-welcomed bed-fellow. “So you’re telling me I have to love myself unconditionally in order to do the work I am called to do?! I have to move through the world with a level of determination that might silence others? That shit’s crazy!” Radical Self-Love represents the beginning of the movement. Nothing can come before it until we find love within ourselves. That’s the real battle as we are tasked with rewriting the legacy that had been laid out for us by your forefathers.

Who is this ‘us’ that I speak of?

I am referring to any group whose body holds a legacy of violence, disregard, and dehumanization that made the American Dream a possibility. I am speaking of the women who become hoes and bitches in the face of standing up for ourselves. The bodies that are simultaneously raped and regarded as disgusting. Existing in this dichotomy scrubs you bare of whatever humanity is left, leaving us with ‘hips, thighs, and ass’ that are emulated while deemed unprofessional. It’s the supersized lips, tanned skin, cornrowed hair that sets the trend for some, while leaving other unemployable. It’s the dance of envy and jealousy that lies on the other side of our colorlines.

So where to go from here?

The only option is to radically embrace all of you because from love, all things are possible.