fromthemouthofmoi

Dear Dad, I find myself thinking about you more and more the further removed I am from your death. You are in my thoughts in particular ways most of which, right now, seem to be from the perspective of others. I get a lot of people dropping me lines asking me if I am your daughter. They stop to tell me they performed with Mississippi Delta or knew you in some way. Many tell me that they are mad in love with your recordings. Your work has been catalogued in Germany and is actively rejoiced in Japan. YouTube has you sprouting up all over with young people sharing your music. I wish that part of you had been more recognized in your life but I'm glad to be telling you now that your legacy lives on. I wish I had known you better. I wish things had been different, but you should know that I understand. What may have been limited towards me was a fulfillment for you. I miss our many phone conversations. I liked that they were always late at night and when you were on a phone call  j...

The moment you landed here, if you didn't give consideration beforehand, you became one of the Talented Tenth.  It is difficult to write about race without sounding as though what you really want is a bonfire burning bright, heaped high with all that you would really rather forget. Race is a difficult subject to navigate and always someone will take offense. It's inevitable but the risk is a necessary by-product of the potential clarity that can come from such discussions. I am not interested in pointing fingers but what I am endlessly fascinated with is what is at play when situation arise that are out of the ordinary to my life and others.  People of colour who call racists out on their behaviour are almost always then labeled as angry. There is a pathology in that and it is not in the person of colour. It is extremely difficult for one to see themselves as others do. Part of the phenomena of Whiteness is its invisibility, to others and to itself. Whiteness is a pri...