Design by Cherise Rollins
‍

When I think about what I hope for in the future, I can't yet create the exact visual. All I know is that this mirror reflecting incorrect truths based on my black skin should be shattered. This piece is about all these questions I still have, and how being black today comes together with my ancestral roots of the past to create space to be seen and heard. I honestly don't know what that will look like, because so much of this is up to what others decide to do. Will our white American neighbors put in the work to dismantle the systems that are embedded within our power structure[s] as a nation? Will they know that they can't know what it is like to have lived this life in black skin - to fear for the life of their father, son, brothers just because they don't have the right skin color? To know and admit you can't possibly know is the first step, but then to take action to use your power, privilege, and voice to dismantle systemic racism and injustice is an entirely different step, but a most crucial one. One that has run out of time on the clock.

- Cherise Rollins