{"id":181221,"date":"2026-03-06T20:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181221\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:46:07","slug":"coils-the-famuan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181221\/","title":{"rendered":"Coils \u2013 The FAMUAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Members of the Tallahassee community enjoying the homecoming parade together. (Khalil-Lullah Ballentine\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n

A hundred\u00a0years of Black History Month\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0nearly enough\u00a0to honor the\u00a0equally weighed conquests and\u00a0sacrifices\u00a0African Americans made in the struggle\u00a0for\u00a0opportunity.\u00a0Twenty-eight\u00a0out\u00a0of\u00a0365 days, we revel in our sonder\u00a0as we\u00a0reconnect\u00a0to\u00a0our roots that lay\u00a0as deep as\u00a0oaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We still\u00a0reel from systematic oppression\u00a0as we\u00a0lick\u00a0our brothers and\u00a0sisters\u2019\u00a0generational wounds\u00a0inflicted\u00a0upon us 400 years later. We\u00a0comfort\u00a0our older family members through violent visions of segregated\u00a0bus\u00a0seats;\u00a0peaceful demonstrations interrupted\u00a0by the pressurized hate\u00a0disguised as a gentle, passive\u00a0stream and\u00a0progress destroyed through bombings,\u00a0lynchings\u00a0and brutalities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lesions from\u00a0Levittown,\u00a0Little Rock\u00a0and the\u00a0Lorraine Motel\u00a0linger\u00a0still as water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We keep living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pain turns to\u00a0poetry,\u00a0dance, painting,\u00a0rap verses, dance.\u00a0Our wounds are sutured,\u00a0stitched\u00a0through\u00a0our inherently\u00a0radical\u00a0self-expression\u00a0and creativity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As HBCU scholars, our education,\u00a0purpose\u00a0and\u00a0curiosity\u00a0are\u00a0our\u00a0ancestors\u2019\u00a0wildest dreams\u00a0and America\u2019s worst nightmare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every\u00a0word we write\u00a0is a\u00a0knife,\u00a0every\u00a0book we read is\u00a0gasoline\u00a0and every thought we have is a match\u00a0thrown.\u00a0The curls,\u00a0kinks\u00a0and coils\u00a0hail\u00a0like\u00a0untouchable\u00a0crowns\u00a0on\u00a0our\u00a0heads\u00a0in a\u00a0regal\u00a0display of defying gravity.\u00a0When the world tells us to\u00a0assimilate to\u00a0a\u00a0pin-straight standard, we pick out our hair in power.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I revel in gratitude for\u00a0it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From every barber shop, hair salon, corner store,\u00a0speakeasy,\u00a0ma and pa restaurant, juke joint,\u00a0doctoral practice,\u00a0writing room,\u00a0fire department,\u00a0film set,\u00a0atelier,\u00a0court\u00a0room\u00a0and\u00a0recording\u00a0studio,\u00a0500\u00a0years of\u00a0celebration are in order\u00a0across the diaspora.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Continue celebrating, continue dancing and continue living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And to the heroes and heroines of time,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thank you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the Tallahassee community enjoying the homecoming parade together. (Khalil-Lullah Ballentine\/FAMUAN) A hundred\u00a0years of Black History Month\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-181221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}