This speech is written to honor the annual International Women’s Day, which takes place yearly on the 8th of March.
I have said before, once denying a woman’s right is like denying my birth right. And it is as true as it was back then as it is today. There’s nothing wrong with equality and justice, there is something wrong with men who work against equality and justice. Personally I think as long there are women oppressed, denied abortion right and excluded from any kind of education; the world will never reach its full potential. Every black man loves his mother deeply. Every black man should treat all women as his mother. Because your wife is someone’s mother, your daughter will become someone’s mother. If you hate your father for abandoning you, you should hate yourself for abandoning your own family.
I know a lot of us like to believe that a woman can only empower herself by doing what a man does. That is not true. A woman can be empowering by anything she does as long as it is her choice. A woman should be able to be what ever she wants to be, just as men.
If she wants to be a Prime Minister there should be no threshold or barrier. If she wants to reach beyond the sky there should be no limit. If she wants to play a traditional role, we should not see her as oppressed or backwards. There are a lot of educated women, who choose traditionally to become a fulltime mother. If it is her choice we should embrace her and tell her “you are part of the sisterhood and we are happy you are making use of your woman’s right.”
Women’s right has been at the back of the bus for too long. The time has come for the movement to take place at the forefront of any struggle. I would like to ask every women here and at home to come from the back of that bus and take a seat in the front as Rosa Parks did and please, please don’t stand up for no one but for your right. And when you do that, The Soul Rebel Movement will march with you. We will be at the frontline with you. I will be with you every step because I don’t want my little girl to think the world has no place for her talent. That she’s not good enough. What is the world trying to tell my little girl? That she should know her place? She’s good enough to be a doctor but can’t receive equal pay and recognition? Not under my watch. My baby girl will know the truth. She will know that she’s equal to any person, any gender and any race. She will know that the road is hard at times, but just as my son she too will make it. She will know that she’s a black princess and one day she will become a black queen, just as her mother was a black princess and is now a black queen.
I understand this is a family day. Well let’s talk about family.
I think a child’s first positive outlook on the world comes from his family. If the family is caring and thoughtful the child will grow optimistic. If the family is open and listens to the child, the child will grow up and be open to others as well. Remember we have to be an example. We as the parents are their first role models. I want to make this clear to you. I would like to point out to you that there are many good fathers and there are many just husbands out there. There are many loving and caring teenage fathers out there. So let’s not teach our children that all men are wrong. Not every man is irresponsible; it is not decease, it is a mistake. Because once we give our children the idea that irresponsible behaviour is natural, they will never feel the necessity to change when they stray. Let us raise our children positive.
Let us make them just, generous and prepare them for a better tomorrow. Let’s make our sons and daughters the front fighters for gender equality. Because something is wrong with the fact that most black males are raised by their mothers but grow up and become everything she hates about his father. Where did we go wrong? Sometimes we are too busy teaching a child what he or she can’t become we forget to teach them what they can actually achieve. When a child is raised with negativity towards his absent father, he will hate his father but that is not enough for him to reject his father’s behaviour. Maybe it will help if we tell them there are good fathers out there and he too can become one.
It is easier to hit a woman than to work things out peacefully. It is easier to walk out on your kids than to take care of them. It is easier to take money and food from the government than to earn an honest living and take care of your family. I know it is not easy after centuries of women oppression for a man to face a woman as he will face another man. But what is also not easy, is for a woman to sit back and let a man take a higher pay, run off with her children or leave her with 3 mouths to feed. What’s not easy for millions of girls is to walk on the face of this earth with no education because they are born girls. What is not easy is discrimination on the work floor. What is not easy is to see more of her sons imprisoned, oppressed and even killed. The life of a black woman is anything but easy.
But yet she’s strong and very very beautiful. Even the slave master couldn’t resist her beauty. He hated everything that was black but couldn’t keep his hands to himself. She is courageous, she’s has been through a lot, seen a lot of struggle. But yet when she smiles, she lit up the whole room. Black women your beauty is a phenomenal.
You have been taken so many shit for centuries, I think the black man, the white man, any man on this earth should be happy with your patience. You are a true warrior, you are amazing.
You are my mother, my sister I love you!
Thank you
Update: For some reason I wasn’t allowed to deliver my speech, even though I was personally invited by the organisation. They kept me on the bench for a good four hours. As time passed by I got frustrated and decided not to cause a scene but to leave with dignity.
Yet I will say I am still happy to see my people getting organized. It was a good initiative by Sister Circle and IbuntU Events. But I will say next time; don’t leave a freedom fighter on the bench, as we are fighting a common struggle.