No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

by Darnell L. Moore

Somehow we learned to appreciate all we had and did not realize all we lacked.

The only way cancers can be stopped is by acknowledging their existence and doing what you can to treat them. And sometimes relief comes when the source of the problem is removed.

Too many of the strong have died at the hands of the weak, and the silence of

Those of us alive to tell our stories do so because our testimonies counteract the silence and are a demand for safety, love, and life. And whether we are mocked or killed while giving voice, the lasting sound of our individual and collective voices remain as evidence of matchless endurance.

The human spirit breaks when longings so human, so acceptable to everyone else are denied. Homophobia is the strong hand that strangles the desires of those too vulnerable to undo its firm grasp.

The belief that we have all we need within us, individually, to survive is a powerful, poetic idea, but the truth is, no one person can make it through life alone without the presence and support of others who are willing to draw upon their own strength to aid another at their lowest. I

The body and spirit bearing that weight are not so strong that they can continue to carry the burden interminably. Death, among some, is not always conceived of as dying when you are already perceived as dead; rather, it is imagined as another way of living beyond the boundaries of others’ perception; it’s another way of snatching freedom.

forgotten? The lesson we learn about American success is that it takes individual achievement to bring about collective uplift.

In Newark, I learned how to pick my battles. I also learned how to bow out gracefully when I failed.

But so often love is reserved for those whose presence does not disrupt our comforts. I was ready to disturb the comfort of those who opposed what we were trying to build.

Individual violence is easy to name and confront, while the violence committed by majority groups, institutions, and structures is harder to discern and undo.