A beautiful mind is a Phree mind


“You are free to dream, to love, to create, to exhale, to feel pain, and to move past it, to dance in poppy fields…you are free to be. And that alone may be the most subversive thing to tell a young black woman.”
I have read this book, Beautylicious by Jenyne M. Raines, at least four times. Every time I read it I am further challenged to grow. I read something and something new leaps off the page and resonates with me. This time what resonated with me was the aforementioned quote.
The idea that the most subversive thing you could tell a Black woman is that she is free to be. Heck, the possibility that telling anyone, Black or otherwise, woman or otherwise, about their freedom could be subversive is insane. But….I think there is some truth to it. I think the more anyone realizes they are free the more likely they are to actualize their potential. And unfortunately we don’t live in a society that genuinely desires and supports that people actualize their potential. We have unfortunately suggested that achievement and success cost not only time, energy, or money, but people. Challenges and experiences get replaced by people as stepping stones to living a free life.
As I continue to learn and understand what freedom is and how that shapes what Phreedum is, I am continually reminded of and challenged by the importance of reminding people that a free mind is the most important thing to have. If your mind is unshackled and loosed to imagine, wonder, and dream, you are free.

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