By T.M. Bonner
 |
| Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014) |
The entire life of this brave, brilliant, and bold
woman was a testament to the power of personal empowerment to change the world.
And personal empowerment is no
small matter.
Though many don’t want to admit
this, personal empowerment is covertly and quietly discouraged in the oppressed
and the poor in America. It is done through the very systems that operate under
the guise of ‘aiding,’ ‘assisting,’ and ‘strengthening,’ but, instead, subtly
instill the message that the oppressed and the poor permanently belong outside the circle
of power and prosperity.
These same systems limit mobility options for the oppressed and the poor and close bridges to avenues of possible
future prosperity via their narrow-minded rules and regulations, limited knowledge of the
diversity of their clients’ pasts and lack of vision for their clients’ future
potential. So, the ‘Affordable housing’ provided is neglected public or private housing
trapped in poor neighborhoods with zero access to the resources that they will need to survive, as well as succeed. They
will be given food stamps so they can eat, but the amount will be systematically
so low that only the least nutritious of foods can be bought, resulting in a
lack of control over one’s dietary choices and health. Republican-led states
with absolutely nothing to lose monetarily block their access to now affordable
healthcare, handing down future chronic health conditions, or even death
sentences, to them. Their wages are low enough to ensure they only have enough to
get them to the next inadequate check – if lucky. Schools will be available – sans the funding, support, and resources to actually properly prepare students for
college or the workplace of the 21st Century and beyond.
Empowerment is more than a cool-sounding concept. It is a necessity if any social change is to actually happen in this country.
But it takes resources, energy, and support. And, yes, it also sometimes takes
protection of the right to be empowered from high places. Anyone who has
studied history, or who has been breathing for the last 15 years, knows what
happens to people who discover their empowerment: they end up shot up by representatives
of law enforcement or shut down by racist communities (think Black Wall Street
in Oklahoma). Or, the government itself intervenes and shuts it down - lest such
empowerment begins to spread (think the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York
City).
So people like empowerment on
paper. But in action, it is an entirely different story. Sometimes it’s even the idea that systems,
communities, people and governments can tolerate this type of empowerment over that
type of empowerment because one makes them feel less threatened by only baby
cradle-rocking the oppressive boat instead of rightfully kicking it over. Oftentimes,
those most afraid of empowerment or who try to put conditions on how far it can
go, stand in a position to benefit most by inequality and oppression.
But Maya Angelou was lucky and
clever. She was lucky in that she was blessed with the gifts of intellectual and
writing brilliance that were tools for her own personal empowerment. And she
was clever in that she didn’t waste those talents. Instead, she used them to
give voice to not only her own oppression and subsequent empowerment, but also
help generations of others find their own personal empowerment.
Angelou was giving voice to what it meant to be an American of African descent long before Rap and Hip-hop came on the scene. In her famous empowerment poem "Still I Rise," she wrote:
Angelou was giving voice to what it meant to be an American of African descent long before Rap and Hip-hop came on the scene. In her famous empowerment poem "Still I Rise," she wrote:
"You may write me down in history,
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt,
But still, like dust, I'll rise."
(from Angelou’s famous poem
“Still I Rise”)
Angelou was more fierce and raw
than any rapper speaking on systemic oppression in those lines. In the same
poem, she even schools those who have issues when confronted with a confident, smart,
goal-oriented, battered but hopeful African-American (a.k.a: “uppity
negro”) in the following lines:
"Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room."
Her brilliant words stung us
for our backward thinking, but also awakened and empowered us all to our own
innate strength, beauty, and capabilities – and there was nothing anybody could
do about it. No police could kick in this poet’s door in the middle of
the night and arrest or harass her. No government or community could demand
a shutdown of her brain that produced such brilliance. So continue to empower
she did.
I had the fortune to go see Ms.
Angelou perform at the Boston Symphony Orchestra several years back. This day
was vivid because during her concert, the strangest thing happened: a man collapsed in a medical emergency. In
the chaos and panic that ensued, two African-American women ran over to the man
to assist. As they were doing so, several nearby white audience members
strongly advised the women to wait for medical personnel or a doctor to arrive.
The two African-American women said in almost perfect unison: “we ARE doctors.”
A knowing glint appeared in Ms. Angelou’s eyes. Some of what Ms. Angelou had
been telling us moments before about her experiences as a black woman of being
labeled, misunderstood and underestimated had been presented as a real-life
lesson to us in that one unexpected moment.
There was nothing else that
needed to be said about that moment. Our job was to just let the lesson sink in and learn from it. So in true Maya Angelou fashion, she just
calmed everyone until the man was taken away to be treated, and then continued with her wonderful performance.
In one part of her show, she
began to tell us about various times when she experienced oppression or abuse.
She wouldn’t conclude any of the scenarios with how she rose out or above it.
Instead, after each story, she would merely sing the lines: “this little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine…” She was cleverly telling us that no matter what
happens to you or against you, never let it defeat you or take away your
brilliant, God-given light. Never let it distract you from your God-given purpose on this
earth. You always have the power to be a one-person revolution. Always. You just have to realize this fact.
And when you do, there is nothing anybody will be able to do shut down your own
personal empowerment movement.
And I'm sure that though Ms. Angelou was called home peacefully in her sleep on May 28, 2014, she would admonish us not to get lost in despair, sadness or pain. Because the gifts she has given us all - the gift of learning to dare to love ourselves, to go for our dreams, to not let anyone define our limitations, and to always know why the caged bird sings - still shine within us. In fact, she is looking down on us now with a playful, knowing smile borne of a lifetime of hard-won wisdom, and telling us to just sing: "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine…"
