AND THE JOURNEY BEGINS

AROUND a table we sat, talking and dreaming of what could be. we spoke of black-ness, Afrocentrism and the texture of our hair. we the women, sat around a round table, mugs and glasses in hand and talked of we. her story was automatically my story. her perm job that went wrong was my perm job that went wrong at some point in time. the black man in her life who left her for that woman because she was too 'difficult" was also at some point a black man in my life. our laughter was voluminous and illuminated across our thick lips. we were not censored and we were not careful, we ran towards one another in embrace. we understood without over explaining, we remained unapologetic. one woman contains her laughter for a brief moment as she replays the experience of been refused in a restaurant because of her color of skin. we laugh, although we all understand it is not funny. another armed with tattoos and a fro rooted enough to block the sun recognizes that they box her because her 'blackness' is glaring and present, alive and thriving--but she lives in a circle. i run my hair through my permed head, i am quiet as i explain that the brother from the 'mother-land', sexually violated his sister (I) from the mother-land. we all become silent. "but sister did i tell you of the woman the other day who wanted to touch my hair", we burst into laughter once more, filling the room with sound and resilience. these are the stories we tell each other when we have the blessing to be with another. we share quickly, pouring all the diluted into the undiluted air of sisterhood. we know that this moment will pass and so will the intense love of holding and touch another black woman. we know we possess pain as much as we possess joy, we know we possess dreams as much as we possess fears. we know we possess strength as much as we possess anger and judgment. so we know that these moments are sacred, we hold each other a little tighter.

this blog is born from those stories. this blog is born from the need to create and gestate community. this blog is for and will be maintained by black women and women of color in Vancouver. We invite our Asian sisters, our Latina sisters, our black/African sisters, we invite any woman who identifies as a colored woman and we invite and welcome our first nation sister's on whose land we are all guests. We invite our brothers with open arms if they recognize that their liberation is bound in ours and that as a community we must pour more work into loving one another COURAGEOUSLY.

every piece on this blog will be a collaborative effort, the stories, the art, the discussions and even the events posed up will be inspired, produced, and initiated collaboratively. These are our stories....these are our events, this is how we know how we witness & embrace.

THIS MONTH'S THEME IS:{ STORIES-DO YOUR TELLING}
TO SUBMIT A STORY/POEM/ART PIECE/WRITING PLEASE E-MAIL US AT:
COLOREDCOLLECTIVE@GMAIL.COM
WITH YOUR NAME, E-MAIL ADDRESS, A SHORT BIO.

In solidarity rooted in love.
colored collective (COCO)