“The mind once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
DURING the presidential campaign last year, Vice President Kamala Harris made a statement that was both a slogan and a rallying cry. “We are not going back,” she said. FULL STOP.
That decisive statement and the joy she returned to the lives of millions of people did actually stretch our minds, after being imprisoned by the negative and hateful politics of some individuals, especially those associated with Donald J. Trump (DJT) and his quest to return to the White House.
Harris tapped into the mood of the majority of women and girls, particularly those of color, who worried about DJT and his minions but also about a U.S. Supreme Court that seemed to be doing his bidding and House of Representative that increasingly embraced dark and damaging rhetoric and public policies. These women had not morphed into conspiracy theorists; their views weren’t exercises in hyperbole.
Much had happened over the previous years—the end of Roe vs. Wade, for example. That ruling by an ever-increasing conservative Supreme Court gave permission to state governments to repeal laws that had once protected women’s rights to choose abortions and other aspects of their health care.
The abandonment of laws that had been legal for decades led to the tragic and needless deaths of many women across the country. That fact alone had women believing that we were losing control over ourselves, over the lives we wanted for our children, especially our girls. My own granddaughter worried about her future.
It didn’t help that a community of young men, DJT acolytes, began asserting a philosophy that translated into the meme “Your body, our choice.”
Those behaviors and the fact that Harris lost a race many had been praying she would win, allowed despair to set in, permeating large swaths of society, especially spaces where women congregated. Women began asking themselves were they going backward. How far backward?
Hoping to bring some relief to myself and others, I recalled in a column I wrote how I would seek the aid and counsel of a favorite aunt, Loweska, in New Orleans when things had gone wrong with something that mattered to me.
She’d take me by the hand to the small porch outside her shotgun-style home in New Orleans and tell me: “Look up at the sky. Does it look any different than it did yesterday?”
My answer was usually no. More than a few times it was a perfect, clear blue.
Then, she’d tell me, “Touch your head. Touch your arms and your legs; do they feel any different? Is anything broken?” she asked.
“If you are still alive, without any handicaps, and the world seems physically the same, then stop worrying. You still have an opportunity to get what you want,” she said, adding, “unless you just want to give up.”
I’d look at her, a smile slowly crawling across my face. Then, we’d go back inside for a cup of coffee with chicory and a piece of toasted French bread with butter. By the time I left her home, I was ready for the next round of the battle.
Yes, the 2024 election battle may have been lost, but the war still rages. And our minds will not allow us to retreat into past decades marked by our subjugation by men and the governments they led.
To emphasize Harris’ assertion, Esther Productions Inc. has declared 2025, “The Year of Women and Girls.” Not just any women and girls, however. This is the year for those of us who truly are determined not to go back.
We have fought hard and long for our meager progress. We enjoy our freedom, our independence, our ability to play a role in building a society that nourishes our dreams for our daughters and their dreams for themselves.
The fight through these next few years may be difficult. However, women, especially women of color, have the courage to persist, to stand toe to toe against those who would deny us our tomorrow.
Here are a few tips for those preparing for the battle:
Strengthen yourself, your family and friends; the war surely will not end tomorrow or even next year;
Eat clean and exercise with determination and consistency;
Train and discipline your mind; do not allow foolish distractions that will cause you to become entrapped or engaged in self-sabotage;
Believe in yourself and trust the value of your mission; American women and girls deserve a high-quality life, including the ability to be government and political leaders at home and abroad;
Know your enemies; do not allow yourself to be confused by sweet talk and placating rhetoric;
Declare your destination, then plot your course with care, anticipating changes by your enemies that require alternative roots; and
Be prepared to win, showing no fear to boast about your victory or enjoy the spoils of war.
Harris has made clear she has not retreated from the fight. None of us can afford to give up and call it quits. We have worked hard for decades. We deserve to realize our dreams. We deserve a future worthy of our sweat equity, of our investment.
But women have never been one dimensional. Consequently, while the fight occurs on the political and public policy fronts, women and girls must also find their space in the arts, cultural and humanities public square. It’s true our intellect requires stimulation. Our spirit and souls must also be nurtured. Esther Productions Inc. invites women and girls to join us, as we celebrate poets and the poetry they create; as we embrace stories told as fiction or creative nonfiction; and as we allow our visions to be expanded by paintings—figurative and abstract.
This year, 2025, may include challenges, but make no mistake this moment is our moment. This moment is our opportunity to fight for what we believe, to realize our dreams, to grow, to soar, to fly-- untethered.
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