VOICES: PRAISE THE LIVING – RAISE THE DEAD: AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR BELOVED YOUNGINS AT THE FRONT LINE BY FREE BANGURA

For GABRIEL WEEK 2020…

Dearly Beloved Front Line Warriors Who Have Just Begun to Fight,

I’m writing to you in the name of the Most High Creator of all things, both seen and unseen and in the presence of our Honored Ancestors, upon whose shoulders we stand.

I greet you warmly and with peace.

How is your body? I know you must be exhausted. Look how much you’ve accomplished. It’s fantastic. You’re winning! Keep going. Don’t give up. Forward ever, backward never.

Be extra kind to yourself today. Drink water! Never turn down the gift of water, btw. That’s what my godfather Baba Hodari (iba e baye tonu) told me years ago. I listened because he was wise and he loved me and he was right. Don’t be dry and ashy. Moisturize daily. Hydrate.

Of all the brave things you have taken upon yourself here lately, your most important mission should be to stay cool in all the ways: Cool head (ori tutu). Cool home (ile tutu). Cool path (ona tutu). Cool Ancestors (tutu egungun). Again, water helps. Try pouring a little bit on the ground
right after you twist the cap. It’s good practice for what’s to come.

As the water splashes earth, be grateful. Cool your thoughts. Think of peace. Like water, you are essential. We need you. We salute you. We see you standing at the front line, in the thick of a battle you did not have time to prepare for. It’s hard as hell. They who feel it know it.

Thank goodness you came forward when you did because so many of us are tired. We’re also sad. This is the season where our beloved elders are crossing over to the other side. We celebrate their ascension but it still hurts to see them go. Suddenly, everything has shifted. Trust and believe, our community elders were divinely guided. They had the foresight to choose enough of us to hold the line. They prepared us to peep game and call bullshit. They expect us to win. We’re not going to let them down.

You’re part of the shift too. Like it or not, it’s time to get into your new position. But first, there are things they’d want us to share with you. Let me drop some jewels.

In this war against dark energies and wickedness in high places, seek the light of human kindness. The race will not be won by the swift, but by those who endure to the end. That’s facts.

Don’t put all your effort into tearing things down. Save some energy for manifesting the world of your dreams. Remember to build as well as destroy. Find the balance.

Do nothing without intention. Plan your work. Work your plan. Money moves mountains. It’s not evil to be rich. It’s actually a blessing. Get the bag.

Avoid using the words of the oppressor to describe the struggle of the oppressed. New rules, new tools. Innovate.

Our Ancestors speak to some of us in the language of bright ideas. For this, they deserve to be held in the highest esteem. Tell people not to call Richmond’s enslaved African ancestors the slaves. It’s true that they were enslaved but it wasn’t their identity. It was their circumstance. Use regenerative language as a sign of respect.

In the same way, don’t ever call those wicked individuals a master because we know and understand that claiming ownership over another human being is despicable and wrong. For real for real, they weren’t mastering a damn thing. They were human traffickers and abductors. They were reprobate felons. Speak the truth. Tell the facts.

I won’t waste time talking about toxic opportunists and gaslighting charlatans in the midst. You’ve already peeped game. Wait for it. Whatever doesn’t come out in the wash will come out in the rinse. They’ll be gone as quickly as they arrived. History will not remember their names.

Some battles will be hard-fought. If all else fails, find strength in knowing that we are literally the audacious victory that all the elders before us have dared to imagine. We are our Honored Ancestors’ wildest dreams! Wherever we go, there is an invisible squad of formidable warriors encamped about us on all sides. They are our first line of defense. It is upon their shoulders we stand.

Let me leave you with the recap:

● Be grateful. Be kind.

● Be good to yourself.

● Do nothing without intention.

● Forward ever. Backward never.

● Speak the truth. Tell the facts.

● Plan your work. Work your plan.

● Measure twice. Cut once.

● Call an ace an ace.

● Do the best you can.

● The race will not be won by the swift, but by those who endure to the end.

With All the Best of Everything in a Double Portion, I Leave You as I Came,

General Bangura

(but if you want, you can call me Mama Free)

Mama Free Bangura, Founder + CEO Untold RVA for GABRIEL WEEK 2020

Cover photo of Free Bangura shot by Patience Salgado