From a Pedestal of Love: Honoring Courage and Legacy
You were described as a seventeen-year-old girl, beautiful and African.
Future Queen for all they knew. Your entire family killed and/ or taken to
distant lands. The life that awaited you was not worth living, so you chose
FREEDOM. This land is your home, and against your will, you will not
leave. It is here you must perish.
Like so many before and after you whose courage gave them freedom on
their own terms remain nameless and forgotten. As part of my mission those
sacrifices and the high price our ancestors paid will be remembered. In your
honor I’d like to call you Bonny. Unfortunately two other young girls age 15
suffered similar fates. I will call them Bonnie and Ebony. This first design is
my dedication to each of you. So young and brave in the face of barbarity
for no reason other than the color of your skin.
As we launch our first high-impact design, it felt essential to begin by
honoring these young women and the countless others whose sacrifices
laid the groundwork for our present fight for justice and equity.
Regardless of how much time and distance between us it’s hard not to feel
a certain way still. It is then I remember something I once heard, “To hate
is to acknowledge inferiority and fear.” What a worthless emotion and an
unfathomable misery that the people who carry it must feel. Admittedly
or not. Knowingly or not. It can’t be any other way! It’s past time to learn
how to LOVE. I’d start with self love.
Wear 'Bonny' as a tangible expression of remembrance, resilience, and
our collective journey towards love and empowerment. Your support through
the purchase of this design directly fuels the vital work of Self-Built Legacy
Foundations, empowering us to build that self-determined future they
were denied.
In honor of these young queens, and to the enduring legacy of courage
and resistance embodied by all our ancestors.
The opposite of courage is conformity. This might be an understatement in
these times. A very small amount of people, organizations or governments
if any, possess this basic virtue. Let yesterday be the example, today be
the proof and our tomorrows be self-determined. The entire system was
not designed for us, and it does not benefit us. Therefore, we must once
again choose freedom. Unlike Bonny, death isn’t the only option. Courage
is the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair. It is not my courage that
has brought me here but that of our ancestors. As Self-Built Legacy
Foundations become our reality, I will lean into them.
There is a wealth of material on the subject that one could read and it’ll
stop you in your tracks. Everything is magnified when kids are involved.
At the young ages of seventeen and fifteen having lost everything. To have
the mental clarity to know how to proceed in that moment. First, no-one
( black, brown, white or purple ) should have ever been face with the
greatest crime against humanity. Second, to choose death at your own
hands… It shouldn’t be hard to see why this truth stuck with me.
As the vision for Self-Built Legacy Foundations took shape, and the need
to give voice to these stories became paramount, the form of our first
offering became clear. The first high-impact tee in the collection was born.
To Bonny, Bonnie and Ebony with Love!
“No price too high, no distance too far”