Why Following Our ‘Passion’ Is Directly Tied To Black Liberation

We’re not taught to follow our passions. We’re taught that passion is purposeless and our job is to hustle, be the best, and secure the bag because our ancestors weren’t allowed to.

But this is toxic thinking and it recreates ancestral trauma.

Our ancestors are put in boxes as having either been “enslaved” or “colonized.” But these were anti-Black systems forced onto them.

Our ancestors were artists, healers, lovers, teachers, practitioners, community builders, and scientists with dreams. Dreams that enslavement and colonization stole.

In her essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” Alice Walker honors enslaved Black women whose living conditions slowly drove them insane. Walker humanized these women by recognizing they were likely artists or healers who weren’t allowed to practice their crafts.

Walker believes this, in addition to cruel living conditions, played a huge role in their unraveling.

Walker asks something we should all sit with. “Did you have a genius of a great-great-grandmother who died under some ignorant and depraved white overseer’s lash?”

This is the sign to follow your passion. Discover everything that makes your heart sing. And practice. Practicing IS the journey.

Following our passion heals the parts of our ancestors white supremacy desperately tried to break.