Chillin’ at the 2023 Annual Meeting
I had a DAMN good time chillin’ at the 2023 annual meeting, as it was my first time attending. The lineup included Hannah Drake, a poet who captivates you with her words and aims to sculpt your brain into a sharpened tool that can “shake a nation” for liberation alongside her. Additionally, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II – a relentless warrior for “poor people” – charged us up with critical words, moving songs, and a call for people to join him on stage for a collective rallying cry that affirmed our commitment to justice.
"If we use art, education, critical consciousness, and emotion to build movements "from the hood to the holler", from kids to the elders, we can win. Where's that intentional agenda, though?"
While there were many more speakers and performers that my word count won’t allow (LOL), I MUST recount an experience I had during the youth segment. Bonifacio Aleman facilitated a conversation with youth who engaged in a social justice camp, and they discussed their artwork. One picture that illustrated lung ailments and death moved a white woman to tears. She turned around to me and said, “Oh my God, that’s exactly what I went through with my family.” As she continued to cry, she asked, “Can you rub my back or something to help me feel better?” In that moment, what resounded was the collective grief that we – as structurally marginalized Black people, indigenous people, poor people, and more – hold in the wells of our tear ducts, ready to unleash like waterfalls at any trigger moment. As I rubbed her shoulder, I encouraged her to tell the youth how their art impacted her. Essentially, perpetual environmental injustice occurring in the West End of Louisville was exposed by some brilliant Black kids and a white woman from rural Kentucky could relate; that’s the magic!
If we use art, education, critical consciousness, and emotion to build movements “from the hood to the holler,” from the kids to the elders, we can win. Where’s that intentional agenda, though?
This is a reminder that we MUST create it if we all want to feel better…and spark waterfalls of joy instead of grief.
-Dr. Trinidad Jackson, JCKFTC Member