Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

I had a date with Ms Toni Morrison yesterday. It was at the Nobel Museum. There I watched as my greatest teacher’s words were used to imprint this song of freedom I sing today. Emancipate yourself. Really, there is nothing more important than choosing freedom.

Nina Simone once sang about how she wished she knew how it would feel to be free. This song is like an anthem that retains the story of what it means to be free, refusing to let others define it for oneself, all while continuing to heal, to teach, and perhaps reach anyone in need of bringing this freedom thing to life. It’s for these reasons our stories of freedom are not a luxury. They are part of our existence. In bruises, in struggles, even in tears, every note on freedom, frees another, helps to discover the truth. We wear masks too. WEB Dubois once noted that we wear masks that hides our cheeks and shades our eyes. Which is why I always ask folks close to me these days, what mask are you wearing and is it helping you be free. If it isn’t, if you are not bringing your authentic self to full view, then you are not free. These mask demand, no insist, that we forget what it means to be free. Forget all the ways to restore freedom. Forget too how to breathe deeply as you practice freedom. Forget simply to be free. These past days have me reflecting on what it means to be free so that I too work on freeing myself. We have been told to free the freedom within ourselves. All things not in alignment with our freedom will loose their power and forever be altered, once free. The stories of our freedom may have changed, but the desires remain. And anyone free as Ms Toni Morrison would say, has an obligation to free another.

So in freedom, know that we are like trees planted near streams of fresh water when we are free. We bury our roots deeply in the water. We are not afraid when heat comes. Our leaves stay green and moist. We are not afraid when rain comes. We keep bearing these fruits of freedom. Knowing one day, those roots buried deeply shall sing a song for us. For when freedom dies, out of laziness, out of idleness, out of abuse, out of false memories, out of indifference, out of the absence of esteem, or killed by decree, all of us that are free are accountable for its demise. We abandon freedom, abandon it power, about its essence for meaning, abandon its voice, abandon its dreams, abandon its love at our peril. And if you don’t think your freedom is important to you. If you don’t think it’s important to others. If you don’t think it’s important to the world, it because no one has told you the significance of your freedom. No one has told you about the eloquence of your freedom. The brilliance too. No one has told you that you are responsible for lighting the path so others are free. The power of freedom lies in its ability to free you, all of you. It’s is also superior because it frees others. It makes us humans too, the way in which we are like no other life. Urgent freedoms are stake, like children who know the power of magic. Your freedom is radical changing you as it is changing others. So tell the stories of your freedom, tell them even if others fail to understand. The telling still will do. The dark places of your freedom, the light too. So I summon you, free yourself, free others.