Where Are My Roots of Optimism?

Micah E. 

High School Freshmen

I remember the first day of kindergarten. I had just moved from New York City and I was attending a predominantly white school for the first time. My mom walked me to class, leaned down and told me to always be excellent, never mediocre. She also told me that “I am the dream and the hope of a slave.” This profound statement by Dr. Maya Angelou reminds me of the privilege and responsibility that I have as a Black girl in America. There’s much reason to be optimistic!  Look how far we’ve come!  However, every day I am reminded to seek optimism when others scold me for being too loud and outspoken; too colorful and fun; too different; too black and dreaming. My ancestors hoped they would remain safe in the comfort of their native home and that they could overcome others’ greed. They hoped that they could stay with their families and build something stronger than themselves. All they hoped for was that they could survive and build legacies.  I have naturally inherited hope because they were optimistic.

They were then taken from all that they knew to be good and sold to a strange land, where there were people who were optimistic about wealth. Yes, America!  The “home of the free and the brave” owned people. There were slavery and segregation and after all of that, there is discrimination which still occurs today. The secret has been out for quite some time, but people choose to ignore it. It makes their palms get all sweaty and they get embarrassed. Whenever this topic is discussed, there’s always that one person who shifts uncomfortably in their seat. Sometimes people just don’t care and “getting through the conversation” is ignoring it, and that’s not okay. However, when millions of my ancestor's dreams are ignored, my ancestors are ignored and all that hope is gone. So again I say, I naturally inherit hope. 

I find optimism because my ancestors managed to stay alive on several month journeys before being sold into slavery. I find optimism because my great- great -great grandmother who was a slave had optimism. I find optimism because we were able to fight in wars. I find optimism because we were able to hold office. I find optimism because they did and they kept it through the grave and the worst because there was hardly ever a better. I find optimism because I am free and I am able to tell you about a passion, a small piece of something that is larger than I am. I find optimism because I know that my life is so much better than what my ancestors had. I have optimism because of what they went through, what they strived for, fought for, died for and lived for.  Lastly, I have optimism because I can achieve anything I want to achieve because of them; I have hope because of them. When I don’t succeed initially, I try harder because that is being excellent, not mediocre. My root of optimism stems from my ancestors. “I am the dream and the hope of a slave.”


Photo Credit: @mediocremarie