Hey Black Person, I LOVE YOU!!!!

“I feel our nation’s turning away from love…moving into a wilderness of spirit so intense we may never find our way home again. I write of love to bear witness both to the danger in this movement, and to call for a return to love.”

This bell hooks quote from 25 years ago has a devastating truth ringing throughout its syllables. As we pressed our way through the first month of this current US regime, it is distinctly clear that love is not on the governmental agenda. However, it is in the hearts and minds of the resistance. And during Black History Month, there has never been a more poignant time to find our collective strength in our resilient Black love.

Every year in February, we intentionally focus on honoring our past, celebrating our present, and envisioning our collective Black future. Black History Month is a time rooted in the sacred love of our Blackness, our culture, and our shared ethos as Black people. This love of who we are is deep, powerful, and revolutionary. It carries our historic dignity, propels our current empowerment and is transformative for our afro-futuristic tomorrow. Our Black love has persisted since the dawn of time. As the original people of the earth with a clear connection to divine energy, we have always known the embodiment of a Black love that is strong, resilient, and holy. Our love is where we find shelter, pleasure, and community despite what we have had to overcome.

Black Love as Resistance

Black love has always been radical. In a world that has sought to erase us, break us, and deny us the right to exist fully, choosing love—especially as Black queer people—is an act of defiance. Love is more than romance; it is community, friendship, and kinship. It is the act of holding space for one another in a world that often refuses to.

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and

that is an act of political warfare.” -Audre Lorde

Historically, Black love has shaped movements. Giants of our collective story such as James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Bayard Rustin were figures who not only stood at the forefront of Black liberation but did so while loving, desiring, and existing outside of the white gaze. Their love, whether expressed openly or fought for in private, was just as much a part of their activism as their words and actions. Our love is our tool to defy that which seeks to oppress us. And in this current climate, our love that exists in communal and connectional ways is our resistance to the oligarchy that would otherwise see us downtrodden and diminished. We resist; therefore, we love!

Black Love as Joy

Too often, the narratives surrounding Black love are rooted in struggle.  (That’s ONE of the reasons I am not a Tyler Perry fan. But I digress) And while struggle is part of our history, so is joy. Black love is electric. It is ballroom culture, where we uplift and celebrate each other. It is poetry, music, and art that capture the tenderness and fire of our desires. It is late-night laughter, forehead kisses, the knowing glance between two people who understand what it means to exist in the margins but love as if they are at the center of the universe.

“Black joy is the heartbeat and pulse of our survival, our resiliency our

 perseverance, our health and wellbeing.”  - Anita Dashell-Sparks

Our love is bold. It is the jumping of the broom in defiance of a system meant to keep us apart. It is in the Black queer wedding vows exchanged even when laws and traditions tried to keep us apart. It is the familial love of chosen kin, the friendships that sustain us, and the intergenerational bonds that remind us we are never alone. Our love is not confined to cliché. It is nuanced and diverse. It is in the smile of a beautiful newborn as much as it is in the wrinkles of an elder. Its sexy and sensual. It is communal and personal. It is tender and beautiful. It is undeniably the lifeblood of the Black experience.

Black Love as the Future

Black love is limitless. It is a vision of the future where we do not have to explain ourselves, defend ourselves, or shrink ourselves. It is a future where we are loved wholly—by ourselves, by each other, and by the world. It is just as much Octavia Butler as it is Wakanda forever. Reinforcing the need for love within our culture as the conduit of unity in our collective future is crucial to our survival. There is no manifestation of afrofuturism where the love of Blackness and one another is not present. Therefore, the ability to embrace ALL of ourselves in both revolution and joy holds the building blocks for our collective Black future.

“Afrofuturism gives us a lens through which we can reexamine and remix the past, present, and future simultaneously…Afrofuturism normalizes Black life in an imagined, soon-to-be tomorrow. In doing so, Black reality, Black joy, and Black success become part and parcel with Black future.” -John Jennings

So, as we celebrate Black History Month, now and all year long, let us remember that Black love, in all its forms, is at the heart of our resilience. Black love is at the core of our identity. Black love is the seedling to our joy. Let us honor the past, embrace the present, and dream of a future where Black love is even more personified, treasured, protected, embraced, honored, and sacred than ever before. Because, friends, that is how we will live on forever! I love you…