Hot heat simmers from the lines on my palms
I breathe in the pain, the fire, the steam
Exhaling comfort, I extend out my arms
I’m here
Bonded together in the rain
We raise our hearts to the black tar sky
A hum, a glow, under our furrowed brows
It comes in waves
A beaten rhythm of protests past
Not alone, we cry
Hope. Carried over oceans with a sigh
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Have been feeling a lot of ocean imagery this month in all my creative writing, here’s a teeny snippet. Photo credit @sergeebee
Ria Xx
![](https://scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/e35/c0.58.1080.1080a/s150x150/102553196_179608096808939_284574406840022070_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=111&_nc_ohc=QqdzZhJl8NUAX86BjA9&oh=5acc0d12931f2c2e49e2ce1fb1ba057e&oe=5F3833E3 "So it\'s Friday. How\'re we feeling folks?
Now that many have posted their black square, the blackout hashtags have been and gone, and platitudes and promises have been made that #BlackLivesMatter, I wanted to highlight the passage on the second slide, in which #AudreLorde wrote in 1980
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\\"...Black women and our children know the fabric of our lives is stitched with violence and with hatred, that there is no rest.\\"
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I highlight this passage in particular because it serves as a reminder that even though George Floyd\'s killers have been arrested and charged, WE are not done yet. There is no rest in dismantling white supremacy. It\'s tiring and exhausting, but it\'s absolutely necessary work.
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I wrote a blog post in 2017 called \'Welcome to the resistance: Are you sitting uncomfortably\' as a direct response to the Women\'s March.
I wrote it as a plea to keep sitting with the uncomfortable energy that comes with active allyship, anti-racist work and challenging white supremacy, not just for the march but for the long run. That endurance faltered quickly after the Women\'s March. Many of us fell complacent - myself included.
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We cannot allow that to happen again this time. Because that tiredness, exhaustion and fatigue is something Black and minority ethnic people live with everyday.
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The call to arms remains the same as it did back then. Whatever you do, don’t resolve to stand still on issues.
Embrace being comfortable with being uncomfortable.")
