claiming space

Thousands of New Yorkers hit the streets on Saturday for a massive protest march against police brutality. I wanted to be there with them, but we had other, equally important work to do in Bed-Stuy. Ibi Zoboi organized a fantastic reading by four Black women writers, and the young members of her Brooklyn Blossoms Book Club represented the younger generation by reading from Brown Girl Dreaming and asking their own thoughtful questions to kick off the Q&A. The room was packed and on the gallery walls hung the beautiful black and white photographs of Black girls from throughout the diaspora taken by Delphine Fawundu. Before the event began at noon we had a chance to see some of the talented young people who performed for Restoration’s holiday show; Tonya, Renee, and I said a few words to them about the importance of literacy, and I got to hand out some of my books to eager young readers. Before the reading began there was time to catch up with fellow authors Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Lyn Miller-Lachmann; we talked about the challenge of earning a living as an artist, and then Jackie arrived and we took our places. I recently wrote a guest post over at Madhuri Blaylock’s blog about the relative silence around Black women’s victimization; the specific challenges we face rarely get the attention they deserve, but yesterday the voices of Black women and girls were heard loud and clear. You can find a terrific write-up over at Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s blog. There are some fantastic photos of the day, too, but I can’t seem to upload any right now so check out the great shots Lyn took or visit the event page on Facebook to see the photos taken by Melissa Blemur. I met Melissa on Twitter a few months ago along with two Canadian expats, Heather and Hazel, and it was great to finally meet them on Saturday! My butter tarts were a hit, I sold half of my books, and went home feeling grateful for the chance to share my work with readers and future writers. I read from An Angel for Mariqua for the first time and think it was well-received. Yesterday I dropped off ten copies for the kids Xmas party at Rikers this week. I hope all the dolls and books bring some comfort and hope to kids who miss their mothers all year round but especially around the holidays. We are here. We’re claiming space and insisting that our stories are told…