The Monsters We Defy

by Leslye Penelope

We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. —Marcus Garvey

She was happy enough to have the one job. The big dreams she’d leave to him.

onliest

hie

When Mama Octavia used to complain that Clara was working her last nerve, Clara always thought the woman must not have had too many to start with. Especially since Clara always managed to skip all the rest to land right on that last one. But now, standing out on the sidewalk in front of the Republic Gardens, the doorman continuing to eye her suspiciously, she understood how a person could burn right through every single nerve in her body to end up irritating the final one with only a little bit of effort.

sycophants.”

But if you want to know what’s going on in any Negro city, head to the barbershop, right? Those niggas gossip more than any hen sitting on a the front stoop.

“Are you sure I can’t talk you out of this?” “Don’t even try.” She was happy to be doing something. Happy to be taking action and not just sitting around wringing her hands like the helpless heroine in some penny novel.

There were more women than men in attendance and Clara reveled in the atmosphere of creativity and mutual support.

Any man who’s born and dies a slave has had their destiny damaged irreparably, and that injury is a scar passed on down to their children and their children’s children.

I just heard my daddy’s voice in my head telling me like he had ever since I was a little girl, ‘White man comes toward you with evil in his eyes, you shoot first. Ask questions later.’

Professor Hansberry taught us about a concept they have in Africa—in Swahili it’s called utu. In Zulu, the word is ubuntu. It translates to ‘humanity,’ but what it really means is ‘community.’ I am because we are. Our humanity is tied together.”

“Our people were torn from their land, couldn’t speak their language or pray to their gods anymore, got split into house Negroes and field Negroes, had their families torn apart and sold off, and then go on to perpetuate the same biases on each other. It’s no wonder our destinies were ripe for the plucking. But we have to break the cycle.”