The Black Alliance Transformation

Surrounding the racial unrest, devastation, and furor that exploded in 2020 after the horrific slayings of Mr. George Floyd, Ms. Breonna Taylor, Mr. Ahmaud Arbery, etc. -- was all-encompassing confusion, fear, and rage. Many people seemed confused and asked “how did we get here?” and “how can we make genuine long-standing changes towards equity, not for show but for genuine impact?” The impactful and innovative solutions that will foster equity can be found within the darkness that so many people refuse to learn about or explore. It helps to delve into the racial darkness of our nation’s history with a partner who can guide you with edifying enlightenment so that you won’t be facing these realizations alone. 

As a Black female that was born and raised in Mobile, AL, to a family that celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as if he was there with us to share highlights of his experiences over a slice of my Mom’s delicious strawberry cake with strawberry icing that she would make each year -- I was raised to find comfort in our history. My Mom and my Dad have always emphasized to my siblings and myself about knowing our history because there is power in that knowledge. In the words of renowned Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes, "We possess within ourselves a great reservoir of physical and spiritual strength," which we receive glimpses of as we journey into learning about our ancestral communities. After experiencing racism before my fourth birthday, my Mom began giving us books to read during the Summers that would shed light on our heroes amongst the horrors, such as “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” and “Harriet, The Moses of Her People: A Biography of Harriet Tubman,” and etc.

My family's elders would regale my siblings, cousins, and myself with memories of living and enduring the realities of the Jim Crow Era and The Civil Rights Movement. Most surprisingly, we have always known that our lineage dates back to our Ancestor Cudjo Lewis [birthname: Kossola Oluale], who was one of the last living enslaved people, forcefully & illegally brought over to American shores 52 years after the trans-atlantic slave trade was abolished -- widely believed to have been incited over a bet between brothers. [Famed Writer, Zora Neale Hurston bore witness to Ancestor Kossola's harrowing journey from being free in Africa, celebrating his transition from boyhood to manhood, to being forced into enslavement in America, to then later being "free" in America, which is recorded in her recently published biography, Barracoon.] Interestingly enough, my paternal Grandfather Nathaniel Mosley, was 8 years old when my formerly-enslaved maternal Ancestor Cudjo Lewis exchanged his earthly home for his Heavenly home in 1927; and my Great Grandmother Irene Lewis Coleman, had a loving relationship with her Grandfather Cudjo, for 14 years of her youth. This brief lineage helps us to understand that Slavery is not so far removed from our present. 

It has always been apparent that racism has framed this nation in such a way that we continue to tolerate certain inhumanities since they have become familiar and normal. After growing up in the heart of the Confederacy for 21 years, I moved to New York City for seven years before moving to Los Angeles, where I have lived for the past seven years. As a Receptionist in two  of the largest cities within our nation, I have taken note of certain shared characteristics of many people of influence and power. Utilizing this unit of measurement outlined by famed Poet and Philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him,” -- has informed upon the analysis of many insightful interactions. That analysis has assisted in the organization and implementation of this Black Alliance Course.

In my near-14 years of being a Receptionist in two of the most robust cities in our nation, I can attest that while I have enjoyed some great experiences and made some life-long friends, I have also experienced the underbelly of many people’s character, whose disdain left an indellible mark in my memories. Much of the disrespect and disregard that I received in the Northeast and the Southwest were eerily reminiscent of the overt racism that I grew up with in the Deep South… only now, it took on different names and classifications to mask its blatantly divisive core.

In times when I felt most insignificant and invisible, I began to taking a page from my childhood and began delving back into the literature of our Ancestral heroes, including William Still, Langston Hughes, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, and more. Reading about them and reading some words that were directly from them became comforting coping mechanisms to get through the everyday racist undertones and racially motivated overtures in Alabama, New York, and Los Angeles.

As I shared some information with beleaguered loved ones and colleagues, there seemed to be a sense of comfort, understanding, and inherent empathy that always resulted from these edifying educational conversations. The expanded heart of those conversations has been translated to the exercises within this Black Alliance Transformational Course, along with years of research, discussions, and writing. When it comes to delving into the hot-button issues of race relations and racial equity, a large-scale myriad of positive and negative responses can result from these informative conversations of The Black Alliance Course. However, if this subject matter is approached with unconditional empathy, affable resilience, acceptance, and forthcoming transparency, the chances of having positive outcomes and interactions increase exponentially.

The Social Antidote Project’s Black Alliance Course was created and Piloted at Crescent Capital Group, LP, and I had the privilege of working with over 40 diverse corporate participants nationwide. This course could not have been created nor perfected without them, to which I owe much gratitude and appreciation. This Black Alliance Course and was designed with you in mind -- to listen, learn, observe & experience a different perspective, to say the wrong thing, and to ask the uncomfortable questions -- all in an effort to understand one another on a deeper level, allowing for radical acceptance and compassionate change.

The exercises are meant to get you comfortable with being uncomfortable while allowing yourself to discuss the unspeakable in a safe and constructive manner.

If you want to see racism eradicated, we must start with ourselves. As James Baldwin fearlessly declared, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

“You can’t stand in the midst of the world and struggle for fundamental change unless you are standing in your own space and looking for change within,” Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman.